Focus 10
by Snow Leopard Pasha
Summary: Unofficial sequel to 10 Seconds. Several months after the events of 10 Seconds, the physical and the supernatural begin to intertwine, with Mikado at the heart of it all. What kind of chaos can deities and the yakuza create?
1. 01-Cold Proposition

**A/N: Please read this starting note—there will only be one other in Focus 10, and there's some important data here readers need to know!**

First, **if you haven't read PrettyWilde's story 10 Seconds**, this one won't make any sense to you, so **go read it, first**! Updates will be every Tuesday, though because this is a shorter story than my Catalyst Array series (I wasn't trying to build a world landscape in this one), I may not bother with any double posts besides the first one to kick off the story. And maybe the final chapter and epilogue, though I also might just post them separately.

Also, obviously, I don't own DRRR!, and I'm not going to post this notice again, since it won't change between now and the last chapter.

Second, it's been several years since I first wrote this, and it was supposed to have been a collab between myself and PrettyWilde wherein I would write the story line, she'd make edits and changes, I'd do a final polish, and she'd post it on her account with 10 Seconds. She helped with the first couple chapters, but when she realized where the story line was going, she informed me she couldn't post something which could create controversy. So, it didn't get posted, and for a long time, I set it aside, not knowing what I should do.

About three months ago, I found this again in my computer files and decided, "What the Hell?" I've re-read and made some edits to it, but other than the noted couple of chapters, none of this is PrettyWilde's work. I'm still giving her the title (Focus 10 was her choice to tie it in to 10 Seconds), but all responsibility for 'controversy' is mine. She and I notably have different ways of presenting data, including word choices, so this won't have the same flow and vocabulary as 10 Seconds did.

To be clear, **unless PrettyWilde is still on FFN and wants to endorse this as the 'official sequel' to 10 Seconds, this counts as an 'unofficial' sequel. And even if she endorses it, the 'controversy' is still all mine!**

Also, even though this introduces several new characters, not all of the DRRR! cast shows up, so if someone's not there, it's just because they didn't really fit with the story line after the changes which came with 10 Seconds. I'm also not going to use most of the Japanese honorifics, because they weren't used in 10 Seconds, so it would be strange if I started using them now. There is one notable exception, which will come up a few chapters in and will be in effect with the particular character.

Most of DRRR! Season 1 still happened in this story, but you can scrap everything past that. I'm stipulating that fact because otherwise a few points in this won't make sense.

Now, on with the story!

Cold Proposition

It was a quiet day in Orihara Izaya's office...And said information broker couldn't have that being an enduring term to describe things. The man's auburn eyes shifted from Yagiri Namie, working quietly on filing at her desk, to Ryuugamine Mikado, lounging in a chair, working on a project on his spare computer across the room. Izaya sighed inwardly as he halfheartedly checked his multiple cell phones (he had three currently) for messages, requests, and reports while he spun on his office chair at his desk. The man periodically let his gaze settle on the woman and the boy, musing over ways to get them to..._interact_ again between checking his cells. That should solve his problem of a 'quiet' day.

It wasn't that they didn't _talk_ with each other on occasion, or even help each other out—which was the _real_ shocker—but no matter how hard he tried, lately Izaya couldn't antagonize them into more entertaining outbursts, as had occurred before. For about three months, the two had seemed to be hyperaware of the other's presence, delightfully so, and the older male had been almost guaranteed some kind of conflict, even if he hadn't actually instigated it. Namie had invariably won those rows, either by Mikado running to Izaya for protection or by the boy just opting to return to Ikebukuro. After that, for another two months, the boy's personality had inexplicably altered, and to a severe degree; Mikado began winning their 'fights'. For the past three months, the pair had stopped responding to any subterfuges to incite their past antagonism and regarded one another in an urbane manner, though such civility retained great tension.

The dark brown haired, brown eyed woman still had a short temper, and clearly still held on to her past vilification towards the boy, but it was as though Mikado had grown on her during those two months. The first signification of change had come when Mikado had gotten to the apartment-office early and only Namie was there. Izaya had yet to find out what had happened, but it had left the woman staring at the boy with wide eyes and lips pressed together when he'd arrived. On the other hand, Mikado had been studiously ignoring the secretary's look, reading a book off one of Izaya's reference shelves, like the one from which he'd gotten the book about the Midnight Man eight months ago now.

For his part, the black haired, blue eyed boy was actually completely uninterested in Namie, ignoring her dislike of him, and pretty much had been like that since the first day he'd bested Namie in their verbal quarrels. It wasn't that he completely flouted her presence or any such thing, but to him, there was no longer any dislike, apprehension, or uncertainty. Effectively, he'd found a balance with her, and as a result, complete indifference in regard to his opinion of Namie. Most of their arguments since then had ended with Mikado basically telling her not to push him, and she had capitulated.

Pausing in his spinning, Izaya sat facing his beloved panoramic window, staring out over the cityscape as he smirked at the phrase in his own thoughts to 'not push' Mikado.

He'd started teaching the boy a bit of knife fighting for his own protection soon after they'd met Shiki about seven months ago, much to Mikado's chagrin. Of course, Izaya knew the boy hated it, since he hated anything physical, but it was a way both to help assuage his worry for Mikado's safety and to 'play' with him in the meantime...Only, it hadn't quite turned out as the man had expected (as usual when Mikado was involved), and the boy had begun revealing an 'aspect' Izaya had never before encountered in their time together.

The most spectacular emergence of that 'aspect', now that he thought about it, had announced itself three months ago, while he'd been training Mikado in how to fight in the delimited quarters of a building—his own apartment—while Namie was there:

Mikado & Izaya

_As Mikado fell to the floor with a yelp, Izaya smirked, "Tch, you _must_ be messing with me. You took down the Midnight Man after all; someone capable of accomplishing something so imposing as that could surely handle themselves with a blade."_

_The taunt made Mikado look up despondently and say, "But I'm not athletic! I hate physical stuff! You know that." He was clearly trying to get out of the lesson. It was quite amusing, since he did it every time, and it never made any difference to Izaya._

_Knowing he could __goad the boy back into focus__ by cutting his skin, Izaya jumped forward and sliced, putting a minor wound in the boy's shoulder. It drew blood, though wasn't deep or dangerous—but it had the desired effect and a foot impacted with his gut hard enough to throw the man back. Mikado, who__se eyes now __held a bland iciness__, rose as Izaya braced himself against his desk, switchblade in one hand while the other gripped the edge of the desk. When the boy was standing straight with his knife in his 'damaged' hand, Izaya smirked and shifted his position to be ready to move on a moment's notice._

"_See, __that was so much more impressive, Mikado__," the information dealer chuckled, meeting the boy's cold gaze, even as Namie stared at them without shame, frozen across the room._

"_You must have a death wish, Izaya," the boy replied with a faint, __vacuous __smirk._

"_I think we both know just how ludicrous that notion is__. I__'ve only provided you with little more than the basics__, so __behaving with such incredible arrogance is quite an unwise decision. The only thing you've manged to do thus far, aside from complain, is __kick me in a knife fight," the man chuckled haughtily._

"_Did it ever occur to you I'd develop my own tricks and skills__ from your basic teachings__—ones which could take you down?" Mikado questioned with a now-very-prominent smirk, though the eerie counterpoint to said smirk was how his eyes still held that bland iciness which gave _nothing_ away._

_An instant later, a deeply frowning Izaya had his switchblade to Mikado's throat as he as much as hissed, "Don't count on your skills being effective against me. I__ am on the path to divinity__, after all."_

_And before he could blink, or even twitch, a blade was cutting the skin at his own neck hard enough to draw a drop of blood. "Why? Because then I'd also hold the status of a God, Izaya? Does that thought actually _scare_ you?"_

_With his lips drawn into a fine line, the man answered, "You'll never reach such a status, so I have nothing to fear. You're just an impressive, entertaining human__, slightly better than the majority of the populace__." The very idea was entirely preposterous, and Izaya almost wanted to laugh—_almost_. For some reason, he couldn't do so._

"_Oh, I hit a nerve, didn't I?" the cold Mikado asked in pure, smirking amusement, the first actual expression Izaya had seen in his eyes, then shifting to a more dangerous expression—as a hard point dug into the man's belly in warning._

_A glance down showed that the boy had placed a second knife blade's point to his gut, and Izaya realized he'd been had this round—it had never occurred to him the boy would __be prepared enough to have a second blade during their spars.__ With a little__ not-so-light laugh__, he said, "Now, now, __cheating isn't a very attractive quality for you, Mikado.__ Aren't you__ the one who harps on doing everything fairly?__"_

"_What's 'fair' in the Underground?" the boy asked curiously, his expression rather thoughtful. "_You're_ the one who taught me the only way to survive in this world is by any means necessary, and to have multiple tricks up your sleeves to deal with anyone who gets in your face, so...Thank you, Sensei. I took the lesson to heart. And neither you nor I would be here now if I'd 'played fair' with the Midnight Man, so you don't actually have a right to complain. This one's _my_ Checkmate."_

_After a __drawn out__ moment of __stodgy __silence, Izaya laughed and withdrew his blade, taking a step back as he relented, "Well, I guess you've got me there. This time. Don't __assume that this will become a common occurrence__. __This seems like a suitable point to end today's lesson__."_

"_Of course," Mikado agreed—and his eyes became wide wi__th his usual__ worry as he asked, "Are you okay? Let me get the first aid kit to clean your neck!"_

"_Take care of your shoulder, first," Izaya replied nonchalantly, going to his office chair and sitting. He turned the chair away from the room to—he hated to admit—pout as he mentally nursed his slightly wounded pride._

_Across the room, Namie stared with her jaw hanging open and her face pale, then quickly went back to work._

Izaya & Mikado

Yes, it had been immediately after that when the woman had also begun resisting Izaya's ploys to draw her into a conflict with Mikado, the man realized. In other words, she had also likely seen that 'aspect' before, but never in so much glory—or whatever you would call Mikado claiming to take Izaya's place as God and threatening to stab him in the neck and gut. Well, more accurately, he supposed Mikado had claimed to become one alongside him, not usurp it from him entirely, but the fact really didn't lessen the sting. At all. It still felt to him like he was being usurped, but no matter how hard he attempted to define the reason for his reaction, it resulted in nothing.

Still, that 'aspect' of Mikado was singularly unique, because it did things it technically couldn't, and it created an aura exactly opposite to Mikado's usual self. Especially when one 'aura' threatened to kill a person and the other worriedly fussed over the injuries he himself had caused only seconds earlier. The pace at which the boy slipped into and out of these two 'personae' was alarmingly quick, almost to the point that if it were someone other than Mikado, Izaya would assume it to be an indication of underlying mental incapacitation. More interestingly, it couldn't be defined as 'multiple personality disorder', as Mikado remembered everything which occurred in both states.

The result of this combination of odd occurrences had been that Mikado's piece on his chessboard, originally the Black Queen, had been replaced with the White Queen. He could have chosen another piece entirely or left the Black Queen, he supposed, but the one which represented the boy best in the current situation was the White Queen, the polar opposite of the Black Queen. It wasn't looks he was basing the choice on, or it wouldn't actually have mattered; rather, it was the symbolism of their colors, as well as their functions.

In Europe and European-based societies, white was the color of purity and innocence, but that also wasn't how Izaya meant to reference the boy, otherwise he would have chosen white to represent the boy previously. It was a completely superficial view outsiders had of the situation, and nowhere near the truth, as Mikado had proven several times how 'impure' and 'wise' he was—he was on a completely different level from any other human, and that fact was becoming truer with the passage of time. It came in spurts and turned the boy cold, hard, and overly efficient and observant, and more athletically capable, even as he expertly became a Queen protecting its King from all threats, right down to the distant and highly dangerous ones and the very close and minor ones. No, 'purity' and 'innocent' weren't words befitting Mikado as he truly was.

Izaya idly wondered if, perhaps, Mikado was threatened by their difference in 'status' caused by Izaya proclaiming himself a God while still regarding Mikado as a mere human...Certainly not a train of thought he wished to dwell on at the moment.

As such, the more appropriate symbolism was that of the color white in Japan—it was the traditional color of death and mourning, a color speaking of spirits, demons, and all manner of highly unnatural beings and occurrences. The longer Izaya worked so closely with Mikado—coming up on nine months now—the more certain he was that Mikado was no normal human. Rather, he had the general volatility of some kind of wraith, what with his instantaneous shift between his normal self and his cold self. Yes, the cold Mikado was very dangerous to him, but that was part of the fun—and ultimately, it meant the boy fairly 'died' every time he switched, only to be replaced by another, and the only real option the information broker was starting to think it could be was some form of possession. The boy was tied to the spirit world, after all...It was beginning to seem as though the supernatural just flocked to him.

Maybe that was why the Midnight Man had taken so much interest in him, and not just because of his rule breaking?

Turning the chair to let his gaze fall on the younger male, Izaya gazed at him thoughtfully, musing about exactly what the deal with that chilling 'persona' was—only to blink as it looked like Mikado shuddered. A moment later, Mikado reached up to rub his arms with his hands like he was cold, and a moment after that, he got up, took a few steps away from his seat, and turned around to face it, looking worried and abashed. It was so odd an occurrence the man rose and headed towards the boy.

"What's wrong, Mikado?" he asked as he approached, curious over what had suddenly gotten to the boy. All he knew was that it was apparently 'the chair', not something on the computer screen, because it clearly wasn't the screen Mikado stared at—it was something in the space above the chair.

"...This might sound really...strange...but I feel like I'm being watched, and I'm getting chills like you wouldn't believe," Mikado answered shyly, moving around to different positions and distances around the chair. Both Izaya and Namie watched him in total confusion, Izaya pausing where he was so he didn't interfere with the boy's odd movement.

"I was staring at you earlier, on and off," the information dealer offered. He was fairly certain that wasn't the case, as he often observed the boy and his observation had never before had such a result. On the other hand, he was quite intrigued by what the mysterious cause could be. _Interesting_.

And, as he'd thought, the boy immediately shook his head. "It wasn't you—when you stare at me, it feels...assessing and somewhat warm. This feels...like ice and death. And whatever it is, it's right above my chair, and it's watching me from that one, stable spot, not from your direction." He then held his hand out above the chair—and gave a startled blink before he said, "I know there's air conditioning in here, but this chill isn't from that. Just—it's not. Whatever this cold is, it's stationary."

Joining the boy at the chair, Izaya held his own hand over it, not expecting to find anything—but his hand suddenly turned ice cold! He gave a puzzled frown, almost glaring at that undefinable space and the 'empty chill' coming from perfectly still air right there. Mikado had it right—either both he and the boy were absolutely, officially crazy, or there really was _something_ there. Well, there was one way to test the theory, and he wasn't sure if he wanted it proved or disproved—for as much as he didn't want to be _officially_ labeled as 'insane', he also didn't like the implication that something else was watching Mikado. Then again, he had just been musing over how the supernatural element seemed to flock to Mikado...and it seems it was proving itself again.

"Ne, Namie, come over here and hold your hand out over this space," he called to his secretary with a slight smirk.

With an audible sigh of annoyance, the woman got up and moved over, holding her hand out over the spot—and blinking, not in surprise, but in recognition!

"It's cold, all right. Standing cold," she said in a bored tone.

"Namie...Have you experienced this before?" Izaya asked her, a dangerous glint in his expression which told her not to avoid the inquiry or attempt to lie.

She paused, then said, "You may not have realized this, but both Mikado and I have felt it before, a few times over roughly the last two weeks, but never this stable or strongly, and never for such a long time—it would be a burst of cold which would last less than a minute, then disappear completely."

"Ne, Namie...Did it not cross your mind that perhaps it would be best to inform me of such strange things occurring in my own apartment?" the man had to ask with a cold smirk which made her shudder slightly.

"_Because_ it was so odd, and you wouldn't have believed me unless it lasted long enough for you to feel it for yourself," the woman replied as coldly as she could.

The man's eyes then went to the boy, who still stared at the cold spot, and used the same tone and smirk on him, only to get no reaction at all, "And you, Mikado?"

"Honestly? I thought I was imagining things—it reminded me of the Midnight Man, so I basically put it down to something like a recurring nightmare, chills I was getting as a kind of 'memory' of that," the black haired boy answered absently, eyes still focused keenly on the phantom cold.

After a moment of silence, the information dealer asked completely seriously, "It reminds you of the Midnight Man? Do you think it found some way to regenerate or recapture some of those souls to stay alive?"

Giving his head a shake, Mikado replied, "I don't know. I don't think so, but I guess it's possible...But you saw, it definitely didn't look like it was able to do much of anything. No, it's probably something else? A Taker has to have ties to its victims, anyway, and since the Midnight Man got detached from its previous souls—all of them—it couldn't really access this world anymore, even if it somehow survived. And I'll admit this feels 'like' it, but not 'the same as' it, so it's probably something else."

With a sigh, the man took a few steps towards his desk as he began, "Let's see if we can—" Before he could finish, however, his door burst open, revealing...Shiki!

And as Shiki walked in, Izaya realized it wasn't just the man in the white suit, it was also two other men, one in a blue suit and one in a red suit (1). Just what he needed—a full-on Awakusu-kai interrogation! Well, he also couldn't avoid it, and it was exceedingly rare for them to visit him at his office, so it must have been an emergency. Normally, the only member of Awakusu-kai he had contact with directly was the man in the white suit, so for others to approach him at Shiki's sides also indicated the severity of the situation. As soon as his moment of assessment passed, Izaya immediately reacted in kind, smirking in false cheer as he headed for his desk chair.

"Well, well, well, this _is_ an honor, isn't it? For three of the top Awakusu-kai men to visit me at my office, it _must_ be important. So, what can I do for you, Shiki, Aozaki, Akabayashi?" the slender man asked, dropping extravagantly into his chair—and noting how Mikado had followed him to his desk while Namie returned warily to hers.

"What kind of progress have you made on the case we gave you two weeks ago?" Shiki asked in a cold, hard tone.

"Progress? I gave you the report two days ago, and there was no activity. As far as I know, nothing has changed since then," the information dealer replied with a quick blink, then a smirk. "So I gather something happened with Asuki Group?"

"'Something' is one way of putting it," the man in the blue suit, Aozaki, fairly ground out.

"Somehow I find it hard to believe you don't know what happened," Shiki added with another deep glare at Izaya.

"Eh?" the auburn eyed man had to frown in puzzlement. "The only thing I know about is that Dragon Zombie (2) planned on trying to 'get you off their turf', but I figured you'd be able to handle them just fine, and that was assuming they went against my advice to leave you alone. As far as I've determined, Asuki Group isn't moving at all, just gathering goods, weapons, and so on."

"You—" Aozaki began, fist clenched.

"It may seem odd of me to say this, but I suspect we may be the only ones who know about it, and that only because I was present when it happened," the man in the red suit, Akabayashi, put in suddenly, smiling a clearly false smile which no one, not even Izaya, could read through. He seemed cheerful, but the way he gripped his cane warned Izaya not to move, or he'd be skewered by the blade hidden in said cane.

"Are you talking about the attack on Mahoutou Company's office, or gallery, or whatever it is?" Mikado asked suddenly, making everyone turn to stare at him in shock, even Izaya and Namie. Realizing he probably shouldn't have said anything, he quickly waved his hands in something like distress and explained, "There's kids at my school who are in color gangs, and two of them are in the area of Mahoutou, so they knew there was a fight going on there in the evening two days ago. I heard them talking about it at school, and it's probably the first and only time the Blue Squares and Yellow Scarves talked with one another, rather than fighting—I mean, my best friend is one of the Yellow Scarves, so it's easy for me to overhear things they do. I just didn't know an attack on a company had anything to do with Awakusu-kai."

With a snort, Aozaki said, "Why don't you just tell us you found out about it on the Dollars website? We know you're a member, and probably its leader."

Mikado stared at him for a moment, then turned and glared at Izaya as he said, "You promised not to tell!"

"I didn't," the man replied, lips pressed into a fine line as he gazed at the three men across the desk from him and Mikado. "At least not this time. They found out on their own."

After a moment of silence, the boy sighed and nodded, then looked back at the men and said, "That's the thing—it's not on the Dollars site, even though I know at least some of those people are also Dollars members. It's like they're scared to write it down, but maybe that has something to do with how it wasn't on the news, either."

"Impossible!" Aozaki scoffed. "You'd be better—"

"Aozaki, I think it would be best to take young Ryuugamine at his word for the time being. We'll be able to take action against him later if we find he was lying," Akabayashi suddenly cut in—and Aozaki deflated, turning his attention back to the information dealer, instead.

"So, what happened at Mahoutou?" Izaya asked, a faint smirk on his face as he met Aozaki's gaze—he knew not to go overboard with Awakusu-kai, however.

"In short, a two-way massacre," Shiki said simply, and a long, stunned silence followed the words.

**Notes:**

(1) In the anime, Aozaki was portrayed as wearing a black suit with a red shirt and Akabayashi was portrayed as wearing a black suit with a blue shirt. Not only is this not how they were described in the original light novels, but it's the exact opposite, and WRONG, color associations (aka = red, ao = blue). As such, as in the light novels, I have Akabayashi dressed in a red suit with a black shirt and Aozaki dressed in a blue suit with a black shirt. Similarly, Shiki, who almost everyone reading this should be passingly familiar with, wears a white suit with a black shirt.

(2) Dragon Zombie is a motorcycle gang in Ikebukuro who Izaya hired to protect him at one point in the original story line. That never happened in the anime, though (unless it was just glossed over), and in this story, they're largely only made reference to, though they're present. This fact will actually be important in an incident later.


	2. 02-Electric

Electric

The office atmosphere had become tense and stagnant as silence prevailed. Mikado sat slumped on the couch, Namie had left for the evening, and Izaya scoured the Net for any information he could find on the incident at Mahoutou. It seemed the boy had been right about no one wishing to actually post anything about the mysterious event, though the motivation of fear being behind such an anomaly was still unknown.

The men from Awakusu-kai had long since left, and Mikado was only just finishing processing the discussion in its entirety—and coming up with numerous possibilities which engendered nothing but more unease and negative possibilities.

Said 'negative possibilities' were partially responsible for the boy's morbid train of thought regarding how little Izaya had actually told him about Awakusu-kai itself (despite involving Mikado), let alone yakuza operations as a whole. That particular point left a morose ache plaguing his heart, one he wished he was numb to. It also bothered him how Awakusu-kai had found out about his role in Dollars if Izaya had been honest when he denied revealing this to them, but something about the way Akabayashi had 'defended' him made him think something was...amiss.

Then, there was the actual incident, the massacre itself, in combination with the interrelated question of how such a disturbing thing had been kept away from the news and media so thoroughly that a blood bath hadn't hit television, radio, or Internet news. It was ludicrous. There wasn't even much gossip about it, other than the fact that 'something' had occurred, which was the most anyone seemed willing to reveal.

Shiki's story had been something like out of a horror movie, and made no sense from their view, let alone from the uninformed boy's.

Mikado & Izaya

"_You say it was a two-way massacre, but how so? Surely most of the participants survived, if unconscious and injured," Izaya commented, knowing the skill level each side involved possessed—not to mention the fire power._

"_We all wish such was the case," Shiki replied, closing his eyes for a moment before opening them to stare at the information dealer. "Izaya, _no one _would have survived if Akabayashi hadn't been there. All told, there are over fifty dead, twenty-two of ours and thirty-one of theirs, and another five of our guys are alive, but currently comatose. We know almost nothing about what actually happened, other than what Akabayashi saw when he got there and saved the last five of our guys who were still alive."_

"_Which was? I mean aside from the mountain of corpses?" the auburn eyed man questioned, his expression suddenly contrastingly laconic to his usual mannerisms._

_At that, Shiki looked up at Akabayashi and nodded, so the man in the red suit, still smiling as he had been earlier, said, "There were four of the attackers still alive, but barely, as with our five, two of whom were unconscious. Or, I should say, the attackers were alive in a physical sense."_

"_In a physical sense? Are you implying they were sleep walking or something equally outlandish?" Izaya asked with a snort. "Somehow I doubt that to be the case."_

"_Which is well enough, because from what I saw of the expressions in their eyes, there was no soul, feeling, or 'life' in them. Rather than 'sleep walking', it was like they were walking corpses or possessed, and they couldn't feel pain from being struck. Now, as much as I know there are some experimental drugs which can allow such a thing for a temporary span of time, I would be much surprised if someone would effectively waste so much of a rare, prized commodity on a skirmish to the death," Akabayashi explained, still with that eerie smile intact._

"_There was no one of importance there at the time?" the auburn eyed man asked in some curiosity, even as Mikado just stood beside him, looking a little pale._

"_No, not even Shiki, whose watch that is," Aozaki glared. "He and I had gone to investigate something for the Young Head."_

"_Tch," Izaya muttered as he spun to face the window for a minute. He then faced them again and said, "I'll call in all my resources, then. It's not in Asuki Group's normal range of actions, that I know for certain. I'll let you know as soon as I find something."_

Izaya & Mikado

As that had pretty much been the end of the discussion, things had gotten eerily quiet and the chill from before had been forgotten.

Unable to stand the silence any longer, Mikado called weakly, "Izaya?" He figured it would go unanswered, ignored completely, due to the intensity with which the older man was working.

"Hmm?" the older man asked, his tone somewhat absent, but at least present enough to have realized his younger companion was talking to him.

Feeling a bit buoyed by the response, Mikado asked, "What's actually going on with Mahoutou, Awakusu-kai, and Asuki?"

For a moment it seemed as though the tense silence had resumed, then Izaya managed to extract himself from the multiple windows on the screen and turned the chair to face the boy. "Mahoutou Company Limited is an art gallery which serves as a cover company for Awakusu-kai's dealings, and Shiki, who is the head of their intelligence force, heads it. Awakusu-kai itself is a branch of the larger Medai Group, and Asuki Group used to be Medai Group's greatest nemesis and competitor. Not too long ago, the top men in the Medai and Asuki Groups agreed to a merger, completely ignoring the bad blood between their respective members, so even without their parent Groups' agreement, they still fight one another, though it doesn't seem to matter too much. Hence the reason I have to spy on Asuki Group for Awakusu-kai. That's the short and the long of it, essentially."

The blue eyed boy took a minute to fully absorb what Izaya had said, even as the man kept gazing evenly at him. Finally, he asked, "So, how did that lead to a massacre which wouldn't help either side?"

"That's the strange thing—even though they say it was Asuki Group attacking, my contact in said group says _none _of the members are missing. All of them are right there, alive and accounted for. More, Asuki Group hasn't made any motion to attack Awakusu-kai yet, even though they're gathering weapons to be implemented in such a thing in the future. As you said, what happened at Mahoutou didn't benefit either side, and neither Asuki Group nor Medai Group are foolish enough to do such a thing. Assuming Asuki Group was the perpetrator."

Again, as the younger of the two assessed the explanation, the older kept his eyes on Mikado rather than going back to his other work. And this time, the boy felt there was a reason for it.

"Why are you watching me so intently, instead of going back to work?" Mikado asked suddenly, a bit unnerved.

A thoughtful pause followed, then the man tipped his head to the side and met the boy's blue gaze with his own auburn one. "I don't know how they found out about your position, but while Shiki is their top-end intelligence gatherer and manipulator, I dare-say Akabayashi is the one who found out about you. He'd have had no reason to support you otherwise."

"I'd guessed as much," the boy muttered quietly.

Izaya spun to face his computer again, gazing at the screen for a minute before rising with sudden cheer and turning on Mikado like a hawk zeroing in on a rabbit. "Now, I have some time before the next move, so enough of this saturnine mood! I want to have some _fun_!" He then pounced on the boy, pinning him to the couch.

"Izaya!" Mikado yelped. As he yelped, while his mouth was open, the man quickly slipped his tongue inside, and Mikado found himself being kissed deeply, much more-so than their usual kind of kiss, and only a moment later...he realized how painfully limited his knowledge of relationships was.

It wasn't that he didn't know what kind of kiss it was or the general idea and purpose behind it, but while the man had given him deep kisses, it was never as deep, penetrating, or pleasurable as this one. Even if he'd wanted to move away, he couldn't, pinned down as he was, but he really had no desire to move as things stood—so he allowed Izaya to lead the kiss. Once he figured out how Izaya was manipulating his tongue, the boy even reciprocated and joined in the play, but let the man take control at the times he pushed for it.

Finally, the kiss stopped and Mikado realized he'd been maneuvered into a new position—he now lay on his back as the man sprawled on him. Arms wrapped around his waist as Izaya buried his face in the crook of the boy's neck, then...the older just stopped there, breathing deeply. For a minute, the younger man just lay still, completely on edge and waiting—usually, when Izaya wanted something, nothing could stop him—but the man made no further motion to do anything along the lines of what he had been just a minute before.

"...So what was _that_ all about?" the boy asked curiously. "I didn't think you'd stop there with the way you were acting."

"Heh, well, the _last_ time I tried to test my limits and go beyond kissing, your cold self almost cut my gut open, so I think it's better to stop here until I have your approval." At the man's words, a memory sparked in the boy's mind of such an incident about three weeks before, and he blushed faintly at the reminder. Then, Mikado felt the man smirk against his neck, even as the man asked, "Unless that kiss got you so hot and bothered you can't stand to leave our relationship to proceed in such an innocent fashion?"

"Not a chance," the blue eyed boy returned flatly, producing a laugh.

"I didn't think so. As such, this is nice, too, and enough for now."

Upon hearing those words, Mikado felt suspiciously like something was wrong with the older man, so held a hand to his forehead to test the temperature.

"What are you doing?" Izaya asked curiously, tone amused but otherwise unmoving.

"You aren't Orihara Izaya. I'm sorry, but the Izaya _I_ know wouldn't say 'this is nice, too' or 'this is enough for now.' So, who are you and what did you do with my boyfriend?" the teen replied dryly.

Silence fell for a moment, then Izaya burst out laughing so hard he lost his gravity and fell off the couch, and off Mikado, to sprawl on the floor with his arms encircling his torso. He laughed for well over a minute before getting it under control and shifting his hands to rub his sides as he muttered a quiet, "Ow." He then sat up and met the blue eyes which gazed at him in even curiosity, saying, "I'd be inviting an early death if I try to force you into something like sex, you know—since that cold aspect of yours has enough impudence to actually cut me. Since that has transcended into a proven fact, I prefer to err on the side of caution so I can reach proper deity status before then. And so you know, I rather enjoy the feel of your body under mine, even if I'm just laying on you."

The last sentence had been said with such an impish smirk it made Mikado flush flame red and cry, "Izaya, don't _say_ things like that!" The words made the man laugh again before he leaned up to open their usual kind of kiss, and instinctively, the boy leaned down to meet him halfway. It was their usual kind of deep kiss, not as deep or as passionate as the one before.

A moment later, Izaya rose and offered a hand to Mikado as he asked, "Well, then, since more exciting activities have been rejected due to your being an obscurantist, how about we go out for dinner?"

"...Sure," the younger agreed, reaching up to take the hand. They headed out, the man with one arm slung over his companion's shoulders, and as they walked down the street, Mikado asked timidly, "Do you really...like it so much?"

"Hmm...If it was anyone else, I'd say 'no'. Actually, you're the only person I've ever liked or wanted to touch, and you never seemed to mind my doing so. Then again, with an idiot like Kida as a friend, I guess you had to get used to practically wearing another person," the information broker smirked in amusement.

"Good grief..." the boy sighed, but smiled faintly. "Yes, I had to 'get used to practically wearing another person,' but you and Masaomi are the only ones that applies to, so don't think it's universal."

"Oh, I'm hurt! Are you planning on cheating on me with Kida?" Izaya asked loudly with a theatrical display of having been stabbed through the heart. People nearby turned to look at them in surprise, even as Mikado turned flame red again.

"No! He's like my brother, that's why I can stand it with him, but a brother is nothing compared to us..." the boy found himself drifting off in embarrassment as he stared down at his feet.

With a little chuckle, the man slung his arm around the younger's shoulders again, saying, "Defense noted. I actually _do_ enjoy it, though, as much as I hate to admit it. See, you're such a spectacular human, you know? It's fun to play with you, especially when it provokes such lively reactions from you."

Groaning, the teen said, "If I was anyone else, that kind of response would sound offensive and impersonal...But thanks." The only reply was for Izaya's grip on his shoulders to tighten for a moment.

Mikado & Izaya

The next day, Mikado was sitting on the bench outside on the school roof, staring absently off into space while Kida Masaomi tried to chat up some girls nearby and Sonohara Anri sat quietly beside him, eyes watching his face with mild apprehension. It was the lunch hour, and bleached-blond, golden eyed Masaomi really seemed like he didn't want to sit still, even more than usual. The girl with brown eyes and dark brown, chin-length hair, on the other hand, had barely touched her meal, or even moved since they'd sat down—rather like Mikado, himself. While both of them were generally quiet, they weren't usually so inactive as to just not eat their meals.

Finally, in a soft tone, Anri asked, "Is something bothering you, Mikado?"

Before the blue eyed boy even realized he was being spoken to, Masaomi was right in front of them, announcing, "If it's a problem between you and that bastard, I don't want to hear about it!"

Jolting in surprise, Mikado just stared up at his best friend for a moment before shaking his head. "I can't exactly go into details, but...have you heard any rumors about a large group of people disappearing recently? Like, thirty or more?"

"Eh?" the blond blinked in surprise. "Thirty or more? Something like that should be all over the news."

"But, it's not, or it would be a murder of over fifty, instead," the other boy sighed, staring off into space absently again.

"Why not ask the Dollars?" Anri offered in a quiet voice.

"...I don't think I can, or I'll get into trouble with Awakusu-kai," he muttered.

Anri just blinked in mild surprise as Masaomi's eyes widened and his jaw fell open. A moment later, the golden eyed teen collected himself and asked, "So did the yakuza make them disappear?"

"No."

The simple word made the other two trade looks, then Masaomi said, "You could ask Takiguchi to post it, then."

"But—" the blue eyed boy began, looking up in alarm. He knew a fair bit about how scary Awakusu-kai could be when crossed, and he didn't want to drag someone else in.

"Wait here!" the other boy grinned cheerfully, then ran over to where Takiguchi Ryou and a few of his friends sat and ate their lunches.

There was a discussion between them, and as they talked, Takiguchi pulled out his cell phone, manipulated it, then gave the bleached-blond a nod and put it away. With that, Masaomi rejoined Mikado and Anri.

"There, done! He kinda likes us after we talked to him last year, you know?" the other teen chuckled. "And he was curious about how thirty people could go missing, too, so he was happy to post for you."

"But he might be in danger!" the black haired boy replied apprehensively.

"Naw, he'll be fine," the fake blond waved his friend off. At that moment, the warning bell rang, so he reached down and grabbed both Anri's and Mikado's wrists to pull them up. "Now, come on, let's get back inside!"

"Wait, Masaomi!" the blue eyed boy yelped, and Anri just blinked blankly, obviously having trouble processing Masaomi's rapid actions.

Since the other didn't let go of him, he let himself be dragged across the rooftop, and happened to glance up at Takiguchi, who gave him a wave and cheerful grin as he and his friends stepped through the stairwell door ahead of them—they'd been closer to it so had gotten there first. Out of respect and politeness, before the other teen looked away, Mikado attempted a bow, though what he managed was more of an awkward hunch as the energetic blond tugged him along forcefully. It would be impossible to even thank the other teen, let alone warn him of danger, while he was being dragged around, so he gave up—he'd be able to find Takiguchi later to warn him.

There was no one immediately ahead of them by the time they reached the stairwell, but it was narrow enough that walking three abreast wasn't possible, so there was a momentary pause as Masaomi tugged Anri ahead of the two of them. The blond then pushed on her back just hard enough to make sure she kept walking, but not enough that she'd actually fall on the stairs. In that way, with one hand on her back and holding Mikado's wrist in his other hand, Masaomi managed to pull him down the first flight of stairs with Anri just ahead of them. Several steps further down, Takiguchi and his friends were still close at hand.

However, as Mikado stepped onto the top step of the next flight, he was suddenly assaulted by a cold chill—and it felt like an electrical current passed through his body, causing him to go rigid for a moment. The jolt of his sudden rigor caused Masaomi to stumble and fall against the rail with a surprised yelp as Anri turned back to them, but then—Mikado felt his whole body go slack. He had just enough time to see that he was falling forward down the stairs before his vision went completely black.

Izaya & Mikado

"That was just freaky," a worried voice commented quietly from nearby as Mikado began coming to. Having a splitting headache didn't help matters any, let alone the memory in his body of having been effectively electrocuted.

"Freaky is one way of putting it. That sure wasn't natural..." a familiar voice—Masaomi's—replied, the tone uncharacteristically quiet and serious.

"But what made him faint all of a sudden?" the first voice asked.

"I don't think it was that, exactly," Masaomi replied, almost absently. Mikado could just imagine him staring down at the hand which had been holding his wrist. "It felt like he went as stiff as a board before fainting..."

There were a few sighs, and finally, Mikado's eyes opened. At first, everything was so effectively blurred that all he could see was a white mass with shades of gray in it, but then his eyes gradually began clearing and he was able to see walls, a curtain, Masaomi, Anri, and Takiguchi's heads, and a window. He was confused at first—his brain seemed to be slow at getting working again, but eventually, he was able to process the fact that he was in the school infirmary. He understood why his two friends were there, but why was Takiguchi?

A moment later, the curtain was pushed aside by their school doctor, and the man blinked when he met a pair of blue eyes. "Oh, so you've woken. How do you feel, Ryuugamine-kun?"

"Mikado!" Masaomi immediately pounced on him to hug him, but the action jolted his head and made him wince in pain, so the blond jerked back as though he'd been burned.

"My head...really hurts..." the boy groaned quietly.

"I'm not surprised," the doctor agreed. "If it hadn't been for your three friends, you would have hit the ground a lot harder, but as it was, you got a fairly severe concussion. Now that you've come to, it's better for you to stay awake, but resting, for some time, and it would be best if you stayed home for a few days. What I don't understand is your muscle rigidity. What exactly happened when you fainted?"

"...It felt...like a chill, then an electrical current passed through my body..." Mikado muttered, his mind returning to the chill he'd felt in Izaya's office the day before. Was it really possible it was the same thing, or was he just imagining it?

"An electrical current?" the doctor asked with obvious surprise and apprehension. "I think it would be best to call an ambulance to take you to the hospital. We know there were no live wires or currents in the area, but something which felt like such a thing shouldn't be taken lightly. I was debating sending you to the hospital, regardless, because there's a possibility your skull fractured, but I don't have the equipment here to test for that kind of damage."

"...All right," the boy replied with a bit of a sigh, eyes sliding closed tiredly.

A hand gripped his shoulder with enough force to cause a bit of pain, so his eyes opened again to look at the doctor. "I told you, you have to stay awake for awhile now that you've come to." The man then walked out of the curtained area to make the call to the hospital.

A heavy silence fell for the time it took the ambulance to get there.


	3. 03-Chaos

Chaos

Much of Izaya's day was spent either scouring the Net or getting in touch with his 'eyes' and 'ears' around the city via phone or text message. He was at a loss about what had happened at Mahoutou, and the only thing he was sure of was that Asuki had nothing to do with it. He'd spent all night working on that one topic since returning to his office after walking his younger date home, and had managed to affirm the one thing by morning. He'd notified Shiki about his findings, then informed the man he was still in the process of tracking who _had_ done it.

Needless to say, doing such a thing was abnormally hard. With all the contacts he had everywhere in the city, and even outside it, he should have been able to track it down, and he was still trying to figure out how the incident hadn't hit the news. All he could do was work with the thought that the one who was actually behind the attack had enough power to manipulate the media, or alternately, to manipulate someone who could manipulate the media. Basically, someone with a lot of wealth, like a large corporation. Or the government. The latter was a thought he really didn't want to ponder, though, since neither he nor Medai Group would be able to touch them.

As he was working on tracking a dead end lead into a massacred lead, a notice came up on the Dollars site, which he'd left open to run in the background on his computer. He just took a quick look, as usual, then switched back to his original work—only to suddenly frown and wonder if he'd really grasped the notice correctly in that quick glance, so switched back to the Dollars site. Rather than skimming it, he read the notice and subsequent postings with much more attention, and while he'd never show or admit it to anyone, what he read made him feel ill.

"_...Raira student taken away by ambulance..."_

"_...Classmate. He fell down the stairs, I guess..."_

"_...Year 2, Class A's Rep? That's a real bummer..."_

"_...Friends tried to catch him, but they kinda missed..."_

"_Hey, we didn't 'miss'! It was just really weird..."_

"_...Weird how?"_

"_...Suddenly cold, then felt like he'd been electrocuted..."_

After pausing only for a moment after a quick review of important snippets in the thread, Izaya asked on it through his 'Nakura' screen name:

"_Was he taken to Toshima General Hospital?"_

"_Yes. It's closest to Raira."_

Since the one who had answered was the one who had apparently been present for the incident, the information dealer decided to take his word, so rose, grabbed his coat, and headed out.

Shiki could wait for more data.

Mikado & Izaya

When all was said and done and the doctors and nurses at the hospital finally let Mikado rest, all he could do was lay back on the bed and sigh. Everything up to that point had just been gathering test materials and such for the doctors to look at, and the only thing which had been affirmed was that he had a slight fracture—if the spot was hit again before it healed, it would likely break, but it would heal faster than most fractures. As far as his concussion went, he'd been given something for it and a repetition of what the school doctor had said. Basically, he had three days off school, and was supposed to take it resting so his bruised brain could heal.

The door opened and Anri came in alone, saying, "Kida is having a glaring match with Orihara. They will be awhile."

"...Izaya's here? Already?" the boy asked in mild surprise.

"...It's been several hours. Kida and Orihara have been like that for about three hours already," the girl explained, standing at the end of the bed. "How do you feel?"

"Tired mostly, but better with the medication," the blue eyed boy told her. "What happened when I started falling?"

"Er...Kida caught you at first, then I did, then Takiguchi did. You only fell about halfway down that way," Anri told him worriedly. "We couldn't hold on, though—it was too sudden."

With a bit of a grin, Mikado said, "If you three hadn't caught me at all, I would have probably cracked my head open, so thanks."

"I went back to the step where you fell as you were being taken to the infirmary. I felt a burst of cold above it."

Those words made Mikado stare at her in shocked amazement before he said one word: "Oh."

It seemed like she was going to say something else when the door burst open and Masaomi came rushing in, resting his hands on the bed at Mikado's side—and saying apologetically, "I'm so sorry. You wouldn't have fallen if I hadn't been pulling you."

"No, Masaomi," the black haired boy said with a small, amused sigh. "If you hadn't been pulling me, I would have fallen with no one close enough to slow my fall."

A long silence fell as the other's golden eyes went wide. "You mean you know for sure it would have happened, even if I hadn't been there?"

"Well, I can't say it as an absolute, but I think it's a really good chance. I guess it depends on what the doctors say happened to me," Mikado replied. "And I can't just blame you, anyway, since I could have pulled away rather than just go along."

Masaomi gave a wry snort, then said, "You're always like that...you never place blame on people...or, at least, not on me."

The blue eyed boy had to give a long sigh at that. "If I was going to 'blame' you for something, wouldn't I have a lot more right to blame you for putting sleeping drugs in Izaya's drink when we were fighting the Midnight Man than I do for a real accident? I don't really agree with what you did, but I didn't actually blame you for it then, so why would I now?"

After a moment, the blond bolted from the room, and Anri said, "I'll watch him." A moment later, she'd gone after the other teen.

As soon as she'd left the room, Izaya stepped inside and moved over to sit in a chair placed by the bed. His auburn eyes were nothing short of furious, but Mikado could read more worry than anger in the depths of the older man's eyes, even as the man said only one terse word: "Explain."

Of course, since the boy knew better than to call the man on his worry, he settled for asking, "You remember that cold spot in your office?"

After a silence, the man sat back and crossed his arms. "It's following you?" More and more, the man was regretting his oversight regarding that cold spot.

"Maybe in a sense, but...this time, it was different."

"...Different?"

"When I hit it, instead of just cold, it felt like an electrical current shot through my body. That's what made me faint. And I know that was specific to me, because Anri walked into that cold spot, too, and all she felt was a chill," the boy explained.

"In other words, it effectively attacked and tried to kill you," Izaya assessed. The expression in his eyes was quickly losing the underlying worry as pure fury took over, making Mikado blink—the man rarely got quite so angry, even when plans went awry.

As the man got up and began pacing around the hospital room, the boy said, "I can't tell you that for sure, but...probably. At least, it _did_ attack me, whether the reason was to 'kill' me or something else."

"What did the doctors say about your injuries?" the information dealer asked suddenly.

"Basically, stay home and rest for three days or so, and do very little else, so the concussion can heal," Mikado answered truthfully. "That may change once they finish running the tests they wanted to on what may have caused or been the result of the 'electrocution' I felt."

"When will they finish?"

"Probably sometime tomorrow."

"Once they let you out, you're staying with me for those few days," the other man announced, spinning to face the teen.

"Er...Why?" Mikado asked in surprise and confusion.

"For your own protection."

"...Protection? Izaya, you're making it sound like the whole of the Tokyo Underground is going to try to kill me in all of three days."

"Until I know _what_ that cold spot is, I'm not taking any chances."

A long silence fell, even as puzzled blue met furious auburn until the teen thought to ask, "Can you really take that much time with me? Don't you still have that work for Shiki to do? Call me crazy, but ignoring _anyone_ in the yakuza is a bad idea, Izaya."

"Shiki can wait. All I've been able to affirm for certain is that it's not Asuki, which is still more than they had, and they already know it'll take time because it came out of nowhere. They can be brutal, but they aren't stupid," Izaya replied coldly. "They're no match for me, of course, but compared to the protozoan, they're practically geniuses." Their eye contact still hadn't broken.

"That's a pretty poor excuse to use because you're worried about me."

Then, it was Izaya's turn to fall silent for a long time. Finally, he looked away and dropped back into the seat by the bed, even as he said, "I'm not 'worried', I'm _furious_ some supernatural being dares to touch what's mine—something the yakuza haven't done yet."

"Funny thing, that. The Midnight Man didn't produce this kind of reaction."

"We weren't together at the time, either, so you didn't belong to me."

"Izaya..." the teen groaned with a sigh. "You don't have to stay here, and I don't have to stay with you for three days."

"I do and you are." It was clear by the expression in the man's eyes as he met Mikado's gaze again that he wasn't going to back down on those points. He then drew one of his cell phones from his pocket and said, "I can work from here for now, since I can do a lot of my work from my cell—even if I only have two on me, that's more than enough to keep working."

"...There's only a couple hours until closing time."

"That's fine. Rest," the man replied, eyes intent on his phone's screen as he worked on tracking down some information.

Left with no other choice, the younger male sighed and closed his eyes to relax and wait for the hospital's visiting hours to end. Izaya was, in his opinion, behaving absurdly over something which had turned out to be fairly minor, but that fact made him wonder if the older man either knew or suspected something about the cold spot. Even then, he had to admit he felt better with Izaya there than not, and the man was at least able to get some of his work for the yakuza done, even at the hospital. Though, Mikado suspected that, if he had to stay at the hospital for another night, a laptop would join the cell phone in the man's hands and the teen's room.

It reached the end of visiting hours, and the nurses chased the older man out so Mikado could rest—and the woman who was ushering him out was immune to his charms, and was hefty and strict to boot, so Izaya couldn't manipulate her into letting him stay. In the teen's view, that was a good thing, so he grinned in wry amusement at his boyfriend's protests at being manhandled so roughly.

However, his expression became shocked as a familiar man in a red suit stepped into the room and stood at the end of the bed, sunglasses over his eyes and a scar running down the right side of his face, crossing over his eye. "Er...Aka...bayashi, isn't it?" Mikado asked apprehensively, trying to remember the name he'd only heard a couple times the day before. "Did you need something? If you're looking for Izaya, he—"

"No, I'm not looking for the dealer," Akabayashi said, that unreadable smile on his face. "I wanted to affirm that you were taken to the hospital and what shape you're in."

"...Other than a concussion, I'm all right. Maybe by morning, the doctors will have finished the tests and given me more news, but for now, it's just a few days of rest," the boy answered honestly, wondering why the man was there.

After a momentary silence, the man in the red suit said, "We call you 'Informant Boy' behind your back. You see, I'm a Dollars member, myself, and have seen how you manage things on that end, so my word is mainly what keeps you and the Dollars safe when your smaller gangs, like MONTA's, interfere in our business. That's also how I know you didn't find out about the attack on us from the Dollars site. What I came here for is to find out what your relationship with Anri is."

The words made Mikado go cross-eyed before he asked, "You know Anri?"

"I do. Her mother was someone very special to me, and I spent some time taking care of her when she was young." In that moment, he pulled off his glasses and the smile left his face. A piercing gaze met Mikado's as the man went on, "I'm still rather protective of her, and I can't see it as a good thing for her to be involved with a gang leader. I'm sure you understand."

Holding both hands up in a surrender motion, eyes wide, the boy said, "She's my friend, and we're in the same class as the Class Reps. That's where it ends." He then paused as the unreadable smile returned to the older man's face and he tucked his glasses in his front pocket. With a little sigh, he lowered his hands and asked, "Wouldn't it be better to ask _her_ what kind of relationship we have, Akabayashi?"

"How can I be sure you have no further interest in her?" the man asked in reply.

Sighing, the boy said, "There's _no_ chance of anything romantic between us anymore. I have someone else now, and said someone takes up all my time with their antics, so other than at school, I have no time to think about Anri. That's why she and I can be proper friends now—because I let go of my old crush on her when I found that other person." He was being overly vague about the 'person' because he wasn't sure how this man would take his relationship with Izaya, due to many different issues.

A short silence fell, then Akabayashi nodded. "Fair enough. I'll give you fair warning to avoid helping Orihara play games with us, though, because I won't be able to stay the Young Head's hand if you become directly tied to those games."

"...He plays games with the yakuza?" Mikado asked in surprise.

"He does," the man agreed. His smile, given the topic under discussion, was positively creepy, much like when he'd been at Izaya's office with Shiki before.. "He's a powerful man, and we're aware of that fact. Normally, Shiki can see the games and prepare us for the worst, but that isn't always the case. To have you, as the 'Informant Boy', actively working with him to play those games...I'm giving you fair warning—both of you will die. We've overlooked his games before, mainly because he's still useful to us, but if you and he join forces on the same vein of action, we will allocate both of you as less useful and more of a threat. We make a habit of exterminating threats. I trust I'm perfectly clear, Ryuugamine?"

In that moment, Mikado felt that 'other him' emerge and he suddenly felt he had to make something clear to the other man. He gazed coldly at Akabayashi as he said in a hard, cold tone, "I don't play his games, just help him find information. I told him at the beginning of our 'working relationship' that I wasn't going to help him play his games, no matter who they were directed at. If you intend on threatening me, I'll return the favor—you know for a fact Dollars has more members than Medai Group as a whole, and Asuki won't come to your aid—they'd probably _help_ us take you out. I'm a bad person to threaten when Dollars has so many big names in it, all of whom are also friends of mine. Surely you had a better way to end your visit than with cross-threats?"

The smile on the man's face fell for a moment before it returned to normal, and he said, "I wasn't 'threatening' you, I was giving you fair warning."

"Don't play word games with me, Akabayashi. No matter how you dress it up, it's still a blatant threat when you come into someone's hospital room and tell them not to do a certain thing or they're going to be killed by the same person 'warning' them."

"Oh, dear. It seems you have quite a cynical side. All the more reason for the _warning_ to hold true. We can't have someone like you working against us, can we, youngster?"

"Frankly, I don't give a damned about your doings, and I've _stopped_ more of Izaya's games than I've let him play in the last eight months, so you actually _owe_ me a favor. Just ask Izaya about what happened to the artifact you wanted four months ago."

"It reached us with no..."

A long silence fell as Akabayashi blinked, then sighed and turned to go.

"Next time you want to do this, please don't threaten me..." Mikado murmured from behind the man as he was about to step out of the room.

When he turned back to the younger male, he couldn't see the cold persona who had been there a moment before, making him wonder what had just happened. Still, the boy did, in fact, deserve something for taking the threat so well, so he said, "Any visits between us in the future should be a good deal more pleasant now that the serious issues have been taken care of. Good night, Ryuugamine."

"Good night..."

When the man left, Mikado turned his attention to trying to figure out what that odd cold in him was. It felt like it was just him, and it wasn't another spirit or personality taking over his own, nor did it produce gaps of memory. Effectively, even if it was a mental disorder, it wasn't a normal one, and it usually seemed to be a defensive mechanism. In other words, it activated when he was physically injured. _Usually_. This time, he hadn't suffered any harm whatsoever, but it had still activated, and he'd been threatened verbally plenty of times before without such a spectacular reaction. He wouldn't usually call it 'spectacular' when they'd just been talking, but he'd just effectively overpowered a high-end yakuza member with that 'other self' of his.

Izaya & Mikado

The rest of the night should have been quiet.

Really, it should have.

All he was doing was thinking very, very hard in the dark after a nurse had turned out the lights. It was just his luck for sleep to evade him right then.

It was past midnight when he felt sudden cold assault him—and a moment later, the hospital lights began flickering on and off. It wasn't just in his room, it was out in the halls and in other rooms, as well, and when he got up to leave the room to escape the chill, he found it didn't matter where he was, that chill was there. Quickly, he went back to grab his shoes and coat from his things in the bag the nurse had left for him because it was too cold for just the usual white hospital pants and shirt (1), then headed for the hall again with the intent to find out what was wrong.

The building rumbled warningly as he got back to the door, causing him to crouch—and realize it was just a general chill which was everywhere and at all levels, not like the bubble which had been 'following' him before. Other patients were also at their doors, calling to each other in confusion and fear as the flashing of the lights got faster. Explosions sounded in other parts of the building, and some kind of electrical flash shot along the lights, so the boy thought he should get out of the hospital—in keeping with the thought, he started down the hall.

As he was passing the next room over, he looked in and saw a little girl of about ten trying to get into a wheelchair—her legs were in a thin cast which still meant she couldn't walk properly. She had black hair cut in a bob-like style, long bangs, and brown eyes. Mikado couldn't leave her there, so he went into the room as he said, "Here, I'll help you."

She looked up in momentary fear, then said, "Thank you, Onii-chan (2)."

Once he was at her side, he picked her up, intending to put her in the chair and wheel her out—but he heard the walls and ceiling cracking and groaning, so paused to glance up for a moment. As a sudden burst of electrical energy shot through the large, florescent lights above them, he realized what was coming and threw himself back as he twisted to shield the girl he carried. She screamed as an explosion sounded and the light fell to the ground, shattering as electric sparks and glass and plaster fragments rained down on him. It didn't hurt a lot, thankfully, but he had to groan from the rough landing caused by the explosion.

Under him, the girl was all right, but she was crying in fear and clinging to him as he slowly pushed himself to a sitting position.

Everything around them was total and complete chaos, even as more explosions sounded and fires erupted in some areas. The hospital staff tried to calm people and get them to step outside in an orderly fashion, but there weren't enough of them to be effective, and they had to move the patients on life support as well. In the current circumstances, all Mikado could do was try to get people who were still reasonably calm and well enough to move on their own power to help get others out of the hospital, but his back still ached from the explosion just before.

He called to a few people and they managed to get moving—but clearly weren't going to help anyone else. While he didn't actually begrudge them that, a part of him sneered at how incredibly self-centered they were being in an emergency situation, especially those who were mostly physically capable. All he could really say about it was that at least they wouldn't be in the way when he tried to help people. It wasn't ideal, but it was better than nothing.

Then the power went out entirely.

**Notes:**

Sorry for the cliff hanger! O.O I don't usually use them, but this incident is long enough to need to be split, sooooo...

(1) In most cases in Japan, people in hospitals wear a proper shirt and pants, not the stupid hospital gowns nearly all patients in North America are given to wear. The reason? Rather than assuming everyone is a flight risk from the start, they assume everyone will abide the instructions which are intended to help them recover (at least, this is mostly true in Japan, I won't say most North American hospitals are this way, not anymore). Because of the intrinsic difference in perspective between Japan and North America, there are only two cases where a hospital patient in Japan wears the gown—either they're a flight risk (proven, because they either did or tried to before) or because they're ill or injured enough to require intensive care, which is made easier for nurses and doctors by the gown.

(2) Onii-chan = 'big brother' as usually used by a young child to refer to an older boy, male teen, or young man in Japan, regardless of any family relation, particularly in the absence of a name to call them by.


	4. 04-Coordination

**A/N:** Sorry, had to add one extra A/N to update and clarify one point, which I've corrected in previous chapters. Both 10 Seconds and Focus 10 originally had this same issue—calling **Izaya** both an **informant** and and **information dealer/broker**. **These terms are NOT the same and ARE NOT interchangeable**, so I've fixed that. Here's why:

Informant = spy, tattle-tale, makes a living by giving people like police/detectives/information dealers data about the 'group' they're part of. This may also be part of a plea bargain in a court of law so they get a lower sentence. Getting found out by said group (who would normally trust them), usually results in the informant's death. They don't actually set out to gather information, they just happen to be in a position where they can overhear some. In Mikado's case, he's effectively an 'informant' on Dollars' activities to Awakusu-kai, hence them calling him 'Informant Boy'.

Information dealer/broker = someone who deliberately gathers information from various sources to sell to the highest bidder. They belong to no particular group, and normally aren't well-trusted because their loyalty is questionable at best. The fact that no one trusts them anyway is normally what saves their lives. In more tangible terms, these are similar to private investigators, they just generally work in and for the Underground/criminal factions rather than legal ones, and sell info. for much higher prices than a detective's or PI's wage.

**Izaya is an information dealer/broker, not an informant, and never has been the latter.**

Coordination

Sitting down in the darkness, leaning against the door jamb and with the girl in his lap while she calmed her crying, Mikado wondered what to do next. He knew he would _have_ to do _something_, so it wasn't really a question—it was in his nature to at least _try_ to get the best result he could out of a bad situation.

Screams, weeping, cries for help, panicked shouting, crackling, burning, splintering—the cacophony was almost deafening, and it seemed worse, louder, in the dark. Well, until the electrical sparks from the light fixture caught the blankets on the bed on fire, making him groan. No, they couldn't stay there for long, and it was pretty much a guarantee others were also in danger, for those who hadn't already died. He knew the rest of the hospital staff, the firefighters, and the police would all be on their way to help, but even at night, in a city of around forty million people, the streets were so crowded it would be faster for them all to _walk_ to the hospital. It would take them too long.

Regarding time, people in the local area would be more of a help—

Suddenly, at the thought about 'local people', Mikado realized he still had a card to play—a good one. A _very_ good one for all the people caught in this 'freak' accident at the hospital, where their best bet was for someone to organize a lot of people, fast.

Pulling out his cell phone, the teen saw that it still worked, so went online and to the Dollars site, where he used his power as the 'administrator' to put up an urgent post:

_Poster: Tanaka Tarou, Administrator_

_Message: Attention all Dollars members:_

_Everyone near Toshima General Hospital, please go there as quickly as possible! There was a freak accident, and the power went out. There've been a lot of explosions, and fires have started, trapping patients inside the building! They need your help, because everyone knows you'll get to the hospital faster than the police and firefighters will! Clear paths and help people, everyone you find who's still alive, get out safely so they can be taken to another hospital! I'll see you all there._

He smiled as his post caused an instant reaction from a lot of people, then put his phone away, leaving it active in case of an emergency post in reply, then carefully rose with the girl, and was about to move her to his back.

At that moment, she shivered and said quietly, still sniffing a bit, "Onii-chan, I'm cold..."

With a bit of a sigh, he set her down, shrugged his coat off and wrapped it around her, then lifted her onto his back, wishing he was better at physical stuff—and his head was starting to hurt again! Still, he wouldn't just leave her there, so as she got her hands out the sleeves and grabbed the front of his hospital shirt, he began walking down the hall. This one seemed clear of people, other than someone he could hear moaning further down the hall, in one of the rooms there. It was to the moaner's room he was headed, to see if he could help.

"Thank you," the girl said quietly, making him huff a bit and smile.

"I can't just leave you behind, you know. What kind of person leaves a child and a girl behind in a mess like this?" he asked in mild amusement. "I'm a bit of a coward and I don't like physical things, but I'm not selfish enough to desert someone in need."

She giggled and snuggled up against his back, keeping him warm by so doing, so he kept working his way down the damaged hall. Most of the lights in the building seemed to have been damaged by the same electrical surge he'd protected the girl from, so the halls were littered with debris, and he was glad he'd had the sense to put his shoes on along with his coat. The _last_ thing he needed was to cut his feet on sharp shards of glass or on broken metal fragments, and it protected his feet from the sparks still flying around.

Which made him think of another danger, so he told the girl, "Unless I say it's okay to touch a wall or something, don't touch anything except me, since the electricity flying around here might try to ground itself through us if you do. We'll be electrocuted if it does, and at least I have rubber-soled shoes, so it can't ground easily if I'm just walking. Can you be a good girl and just hold on without trying to touch anything else?"

"Yes, I won't touch anything!" the girl readily agreed. "There's lots of metal here, that's why it's so dangerous, isn't it?"

"That's right. You're a smart girl," he told her with a grin. She really _was_ smart to understand what he meant so easily.

They came to the room where the moaning originated from, and Mikado looked in to see curtains burning and what looked like the wheeled 'table' laying over a man's legs, trapping him near the curtain. At least it looked like the customary water pitcher had fallen and soaked much of the lower area of the curtain, where the fire was, so it wasn't spreading quickly. The light had fallen nearby, but the man hadn't taken too much damage from that, so Mikado went to him and looked for any live wires close to him or the table. It seemed the nearest was close to the bed, not the man, meaning it should be safe to approach and see if he could help.

"Um, girl, what's your name?" he asked her, making the dazed man look up and focus on them.

She hesitated for a moment, then just said, "Akane. Why?"

"Well, then, Akane, keep an eye out for anything, like a wire, or fire, or anything which might be dangerous in the area. Like the wire near the bed right now might be a live wire—if it is, it might move and come towards us. If it gets too close, we'll be electrocuted, so keep a sharp eye out, all right?" he explained.

"Okay," she agreed.

"Who're you?" the man asked, his expression less dazed by then.

Carefully, Mikado knelt beside him and said, "We're patients here who were sort of forgotten in the rush and panic—"

He was cut off as a loud rumbling and a sound like a lot of heavy, falling debris ricocheted through the building, even as the whole area shook. The girl gasped and held on tighter to Mikado, part of the curtain fell (and largely landed in the spilled water as well, thankfully), and the wire shifted closer to them because of the shaking. Screams sounded through all the rest of the noise, and the teen let out a deep sigh as he knew some other people had probably just died because of whatever had fallen, wherever it had just done so.

Finally, when the noise stopped, he asked the panicked man calmly, "What happened here?"

The man focused on him again, then looked down at the table over his legs and said, "I don't think anything's broken, but—this is a double room, and the other guy was going to be hit when the light fell. I pushed him out of the way, but this landed on me and I hit my head. The last thing I remember before you coming in here was him running out and leaving me behind."

With a sigh, the teen moved over and gripped the edge of the table to pull on it, even as he told the man, "Don't run away when this is up and you're free, just pull your legs out from under the table—I'm not very strong or anything, so I won't be able to hold it long."

After blinking in surprise, the man nodded, eying the burning curtain warily.

A moment later, the boy pulled the—surprisingly heavy—table up as hard and as far as he could, and held it for as long as he could. It was only about ten seconds, but he'd gotten it high enough for the man to pull free in that time, and he didn't run away. Instead, he carefully tested his legs, and found he could stand and walk, despite being a bit sore, so he just followed the boy out of the room. Away from the fire, he was a good deal happier, even though they still had to get out of the building.

"Kid...you're really a good person, better than most," the man said wryly.

"No, I'm not," the teen snorted. "I don't believe in leaving people behind, but I have a definite reason for that—my selflessness mostly extends to those who can't protect themselves, like Akane, or to my friends. My definition of a 'friend' isn't the same as a normal person's, that's all."

"...The elevator's closest," the man offered, rather than replying to the boy's odd statement.

With a snort, Mikado answered, "Don't you remember your emergency drills in school? _Never_ use the elevator in an emergency situation like this! We're taking the stairs towards the nearest exit, which would be the main lobby through the central ward."

Again, the man stared, even as he said, "That noise from before came from there. There probably isn't a way out."

"Then we'll back-track if we have to," the boy answered calmly, then pulled out his cell to check the messages.

"What's that, Onii-chan?" the girl on his back asked as she looked over his shoulder. She couldn't really tell what was going on because the messages were scrolling by so fast, but she thought is was about the hospital, so asked, "Is that about the accident here just now?"

"It is," Mikado agreed. "I asked my friends to come help, since they can get here faster than police and firefighters—all of this is them relaying messages outside as they try to get to people in here."

"Is it _safe_ to get a bunch of random people to do something like that?" the man asked suspiciously.

"Was it 'safe' for me to help _you_?" the boy replied, then smiled at the scrolling messages—it looked like everyone from Celty to Kadota to Shizuo was there, along with a whole lot of other members who had been nearby. Shoving his phone back in his pocket, he looked up, steady, blue eyes meeting the other's suspicious brown. "No, it _isn't_ safe for them to help, nor is it safe if they _don't_. More people will die if they do nothing than if they start clearing paths for people to get out, but—I _asked_ them for help. It's up to them to do so, and how much they will. I wouldn't want _them_ hurt, either."

"Can you even _read_ messages that're scrolling so fast?" Akane asked in surprise.

"Of course," he laughed. "I'm used to it."

They got to the stairwell right then, so the man opened the door and led the way into it—the corner it was hidden in was still in reasonable shape, and there were no obvious dangers right near the door. The stairwell wasn't in very bad shape, either, and light came in from the small windows all the way down it, so the minor damage of the few shattered lights was easy to avoid. It helped that these lights had been small, cold bulbs, not the huge, florescent lights in the rest of the building, and the broken bulb casings had fallen straight down rather than exploding in all directions.

It didn't take them long to get from the fourth floor to the main floor, where the exit door was blocked, apparently by debris outside, and the door into the main area of the building was bent almost in two and knocked half off its hinges. A broken, metal beam and some debris had pushed their way into the stairwell, and as they reached the first floor, Mikado realized there was a lingering chill there which hadn't been on the upper floors once the power went out. Despite the blockage, there actually _was_ enough space for them to get out, even accounting for Akane staying on his back.

Then yelling came to them as a man burst out, "We should just kill the ones who can't walk and try to get out by ourselves!"

"But they aren't—" a woman began in fear. And something made Mikado go cold and jump forward, weaving through the fallen beams and debris on the other side of the stairwell door, even as Akane gasped and held on tightly to him.

"Yeah, they're not dead yet! If we don't kill 'em now, we'll _all_ die from the de—" the man from before was yelling frantically—only for Mikado to reach him and punch him across the jaw with all his strength.

Stunned silence fell as everyone turned to stare at him, and he glared at the man, "How _dare_ you just randomly determine you have the right to decide whether someone else lives or dies!"

"Carrying dead weight with us is suicide!" the man growled, pulling his hand back to return the favor of being hit.

"I've been carrying 'dead weight' with me since the power went out," the boy replied, gaze cold as he motioned with his head to Akane, who blinked in surprise. "But even this so-called 'dead weight' could help keep an eye out for dangers while I did other things, and couldn't necessarily keep an eye on my surroundings. So there's people who can't walk—but their eyes and minds work just fine. And anyway, do you _really_ have the guts to commit cold-blooded, premeditated murder, just because you're too selfish to take care of other people who are in just as much danger as _you_? People like you disgust me, especially when there's about two hundred Ikebukuro locals out there, trying to clear paths for people like _us_ to get out of here!"

A long, stunned silence fell as someone asked, "Two hundred? How is that possible?"

Turning around, Mikado scanned the dusty, mostly dark main room, then looked up at the source of what little light was there. The second and third floors had fallen to the first, hence the injured and trapped people, and most of the light currently there came from small fires around the edges of the hole. One inner wall had been blown out, and some fires had started over in that area, but those closest to the explosion were obviously dead, for what little of them was left. It was sickening, but there was nothing to be done about it, so he quickly turned his mind away from that.

What he _could_ do something about was the debris-filled room, where the front doors were blocked off by slabs of the upper floors and piles of twisted metal, jiprock, stone, and wood lay scattered around. In amongst those piles were bodies. Some were almost certainly dead, but most had been lucky and gotten arms or legs trapped and were otherwise unharmed, and most of those were also alert enough to know their lives hung in the balance of who won the contest of wills. For the first time, Mikado was thankful for his cold side, not just indifferent to it, because his cold side could win against the idiot man.

"I'm on a site with a lot of local members, and when I put up a post to ask them for help, they answered it—that's the kind of people most of them are," the teen replied. "Speaking of which, if you seriously think we're trapped, I'll put up a post asking someone to direct Heiwajima Shizuo over here so he can clear the doors."

"Then do it!" the man he'd hit ordered furiously.

Facing him again, the boy replied coldly, "Not until the ones who are still alive are out of the way of the debris he'll knock down. Unlike _you_, _I_ don't leave people behind. Since you're unharmed and free to help, you're going to do so."

"And you're going to make me with what army?" the man glared back at him.

One corner of Mikado's mouth turned up as he said, "I don't need an army. We're staying here as long as _you_ won't help. _I_ certainly don't mind, but, well, the sooner _you_ decide to work together with others, the sooner _we all_ get out of here. And so you know, _I'm_ the only one who can post, because you need the password, and I won't tell it to you." His hand went to his pocket to hit the power button on his cell phone—he'd be force-logged off the site, and only he would be able to get back onto it.

Everyone stared at him again, then the man pounced on him to grab his cell phone, so the boy let him take it—and the man quickly found out he couldn't access much of the phone, even once the power was back on. While the man had been fiddling with it, Mikado had moved over to set Akane down gently on a fallen slab which had originally come from a floor higher up, then looked calmly up at the man again. Tense silence followed, then the man threw the cell phone back to its owner.

"Fine, let's start clearing stuff," the man huffed.

"That's what I was _trying_ to say," a woman sighed as she rose from beside another trapped person.

"Good, thank you," Mikado agreed, smiling as he reverted back to his normal self. "We'll have to be a little careful not to knock things down, but most of the stuff, we should be able to clear. Please, everyone who isn't trapped or too badly hurt to move, come and clear the debris near the exit, first, so we can move the people out from the slabs here. Anyone who moves them from outside will knock them down, and it would be bad for anyone to be crushed because of it. Once we've cleared that area, while we wait for the blockage to be removed, we can start freeing the rest. Everyone who can't help right now, watch for any fires, live wires, loose beams and debris higher up, and anything else you think might be a danger, so you can warn us."

He got everyone's agreement, so they began working to free the five people who were literally in the way of the door, and got another three out who they weren't certain about. The piles of debris which had been scattered across the area had shifted to look more like small hills with taller ones backing up against them, and some of the bigger slabs which had fallen were now standing up like plaques—or gravestones. As they had worked, others from other areas of the hospital made their way to them from whatever available routes they could, and most of those had injured people with them. Once they knew what was going on there, they readily arranged themselves to help, and Mikado felt thankful to see others who had been thinking the same way as himself and the woman.

Since they'd met the initial goal for people they needed to get out of the way, Mikado went back on the Dollars site and asked people to find Shizuo and Celty and send them to clear all the doors of debris, starting with the front doors, where a lot of people were trapped. Word came back that they were on their way—a lot of debris had fallen outside, so they'd had to clear _it_, first. While they waited, the boy got them to keep working through the room to clear the debris off people, and were able to avoid harm with help from the warnings of those who were still trapped. Things fell on occasion, a new fire started suddenly, a slab they moved released some live wires, endangering another of their projects...Those had all been dangers they never would have known about until too late without the trapped people's help, so even the man who'd thought they should just be killed was changing his mind.

Around then, Mikado noticed on the site how some of the people outside were setting up a very basic first aid area, but were a little short on knowledge about what to do and how to do it. Immediately, his mind started working on what to do, so he told the ones wanting to do that to prioritize the worst-injured. If someone was going to bleed to death, they should take care of stopping that person's bleeding before worrying about someone whose leg was broken—the one with the broken leg would live. He also suggested they get their hands on as many painkillers as they could, since outside cleaning and bandaging people's wounds, they couldn't really tend injuries. After saying all that, he told them to make sure everyone knew where to take injured people as they got out of the building. The response to his advice was prompt, and soon, everyone knew where to go for care for injuries.

As he was finishing with the discussion, a shout came from outside, "Can anyone hear me in there?"

Mikado knew the voice, so looked up with a grin and shouted, "The area around the door is clear of people, Shizuo!"

"Eh?" the voice asked in obvious surprise. "You're Celty's friend? That...Ryuugasaki or whatever?"

"Ryuugamine!" the boy shouted back, pouting in spite of himself. "It's not _that_ hard!"

"Yeah, yeah. I'll have you out in a minute...Ryuugamine," Shizuo replied—and a moment later, the slab shook, then collapsed in a cloud of dust, even as fresh air rushed in through the front doors. It sparked some fires and made others grow, making the man look over his shoulder and call, "Celty, there's too many fires around here. Can you put some out?"

The Black Biker/Headless Rider appeared beside him a moment later, complete with yellow, cat-eared helmet, and stared for a moment (as much as someone without eyes or a head could 'stare') before sending her shadows out to encase several of the larger fires and ones near people. Soon after, they were out, and she pulled out her cell phone to post about how they needed a lot of help in the main lobby of the hospital so the people could be pulled out of the debris.

"I'm going to the next likely exit," Shizuo told the headless woman, who nodded her helmet, then gave Mikado a wave and followed Shizuo.

A moment later, a veritable troop came in, led by Kadota, who stopped to stare, then grin and say wryly, "How is it you're always nearby when trouble strikes, Ryuugamine?"

"Trouble seems to find me," Mikado answered in amusement, then went over to pick up Akane. "Anyway, I'm going to take Akane over to the infirmary area the others set up, then come back to help some more."

Kadota stared at him for a moment, then said, "We got some extra, really unexpected help, and I'm not sure why they came, but since they're working with us, don't panic—the yakuza decided to _help_ people."

"Eh?" the boy blinked. "Oh, okay. I'll be back in a bit." He then walked out with the girl, heading for the area the injured were supposed to be taken to.

On the way, as he'd somehow expected, Akabayashi fell in with him and said, "It seems we owe you a favor for saving our Young Miss Akane."

Sighing, Mikado answered, "I did it because she was in trouble, not anything else."

"Regardless...When I got word of the situation here and heard this was the hospital the Young Miss had been taken to after an accident at school—another one, rather—I asked the Head and the Young Head to help out here so we could reach her—only to find the Young Miss safely in your care. This boy treated you well, didn't he, Young Miss?" Akabayashi asked the girl Mikado carried on his back.

"Yes, Uncle (1) Akabayashi..." Akane replied with a sigh.

Finally, they arrived at the infirmary area, and Akabayashi went back to helping people escape the hospital.

**Notes:**

(1) Uncle = the children/grandchildren of the yakuza heads tend to call the other men in the group 'uncles', but the term is slightly different from the uncle who is one's blood relative, which is slightly different from a child calling an adult man uncle when they don't know their name. Yes, Japanese has a lot of names for essentially the same thing. :D


	5. 05-Calming

Calming

When they got to the infirmary area the Dollars members had set up, Mikado found an out-of-the-way spot to set Akane down in, then looked at her shrewdly and asked, "So, your full name is?"

She hesitated a moment, then looked away as she said, "Awakusu Akane. Yes, my grandpa is the Head of Awakusu-kai."

Sitting cross-legged in front of the bench he'd set the girl on, he asked, "How did you get hurt at school? Did someone attack you?"

"No, everyone's too scared of me to do that," the girl replied bitterly, still not looking at him. "No, everyone was so scared when the rope came loose and I fell in gym class that they all almost died and had to go to the hospital, too. But that was weeks ago. I had to be here now because I slipped on water on the stairs with my crutches at school, and one of my casts was damaged, so it had to be repaired and they wanted to keep me overnight to make sure nothing else was wrong. And everyone at my school panicked again." Her eyes then went to him as she said, "Now that you know, you'll be the same, right?"

Raising a brow, Mikado asked, "Did it _look_ like I was scared of Akabayashi?"

Blinking in surprise, the girl asked suspiciously, "Then, are you a member of Awakusu-kai, and helped me because I'm the 'Young Miss'?"

Sighing tiredly, the boy said, "I'm not a member, and they wouldn't take me, anyway, because I'm too close to someone they don't like. Also, I don't _want_ to be one. I have enough to do already. As for being scared of them...maybe I am a little, but I don't think they would hurt me for no reason, or because of an accident, or just because I make you mad. From what I've seen of them, they have definite reasons for what they do—you betrayed them, you broke your word, you got in their way in another dealing. If I'd kidnapped you, I'd have reason to worry, but otherwise, no."

The girl was still staring at him when a new voice said from behind him, "Now you know why I wanted you to stay with me once you were out of the hospital." A moment later, a warm, fur-trimmed coat dropped over Mikado's shoulders.

Looking up at the man with a little, wry smile, the boy asked, "And have your whole apartment building collapse, instead? I doubt the 'where' would have mattered much."

"...Are you saying you felt that chill again when this happened?" Izaya asked sharply as Akane stared back and forth between the two men.

"Yeah, but on a _much_ larger scale than ever before," the blue eyed teen answered, then rose and faced him. "Izaya, _everyone_ in the _whole hospital_ felt it this time. And, I feel like something else is wrong."

"Is that chill out here, too?" the auburn eyed man questioned, tone still sharp.

"No, no, it's something else," Mikado assured him. "But, I have to get back to coordinating everyone, and there's still people in the hospital—help get them out and see if you notice something out of place while you're doing that."

"Are you ordering that as Tanaka Tarou, or are you just being your usual goody-goody self?" Izaya asked sourly in reply.

"As Tanaka Tarou," the boy replied promptly. "So, go help them, _Nakura_. This isn't the time to argue about it, or your 'precious humans' are going to die, way more than already have."

"Fine, fine," the man agreed with a sigh. "But you owe me later—I'm no rescue hero, and I _don't_ plan on becoming one."

"Of course," the younger of them answered. He then slipped the man's coat off and tossed it back to him. "Take that with you—I'll get these people to find blankets so I can get my coat back from Akane."

"Akane...?" the information dealer began, gazing past the boy to actually _look at_ the ten-year-old behind him. He then blinked and held his hand to his suddenly aching head as he gave a small, smirking chuckle and commented, "Your luck is astounding, you know that, Mikado?"

"Not 'luck'. 'Coincidence'. And it's usually more trouble than it's worth, because something or someone almost always attacks me. That's not 'luck', it's a royal pain," the boy replied with a frown.

"Yes, yes, supernatural things are drawn to you, especially lately—" Izaya began, then paused and faced the damaged, broken hospital. "So...that happened because of another of those electric shocks like the one that made you pass out on the stairs?"

"I don't know for sure, but there's a good chance. Now go get in there with the excuse of helping people—and you'd better really help them—and see if you can affirm the thought," Mikado answered. "You're better at that kind of thing than I am."

A moment later, the man headed for the building as he pulled his coat back on, and the boy grabbed his cell phone from his pocket again to post about getting blankets to the people in the infirmary area to protect them from the nighttime chill.

"Umm...Onii-chan...who was that man, and why did he call you 'Emperor'?" Akane asked oddly from behind him.

Looking at her with a funny grin, he said, "My name is Ryuugamine Mikado—yes, it's a _very_ strange name. In my hometown, I was teased mercilessly for it. Izaya wasn't calling me 'Emperor', he's just someone I'm close enough to for him to call me by my given name." He then finished his post and sat down beside her to wait for someone to bring a blanket over for the girl so he could get his coat back.

After that, things progressed quickly. People found or volunteered blankets, the infirmary area was filling up, and Mikado was finally able to get his coat back, even as he directed people from outside the building. Once he had his coat, he headed back into the building to help get people out, and as he was on his way back in, police and firefighters finally arrived, followed shortly by ambulances and staff from other hospitals in the area. All of them had to stop and stare, especially when they started getting word that it was the colorless gang Dollars and the yakuza group Awakusu-kai who were getting people out of the destroyed hospital.

With their arrival, the blue eyed boy didn't have to organize people anymore (though he still kept helping to), and since so many people were already working effectively to help the ones trapped and freed from the mess, the police and firefighters—even the hospital staff and ambulance attendants—didn't try to make them back away. The ones they chased away were the useless people standing around and staring, but the ones actively helping out were left, since the police and firefighters would have felt bad and made themselves look like fools after all the hard work those people had done. The staff from the other hospitals actually complimented them on the way they'd chosen to take care of the injured, then took the worst-hurt to the other hospitals and promised to come back for the rest as soon as they could. In the meantime, they left extra medications, and some doctors and nurses helped show the ones tending the injuries more and better ways to do what they already were.

When Awakusu-kai was asked why they were helping, they replied that they'd had a Dollars friend and their Young Miss in the hospital when all Hell broke loose, so it went against their principals to leave those they liked in dangerous positions. When Dollars members were asked, they said their boss had asked everyone who could to get over there and help, since police and firefighters couldn't get there as fast as _they_ could, and they'd been working with Awakusu-kai from the first.

Dollars and Awakusu-kai were splashed across the media as 'unlikely heroes' by morning.

Izaya & Mikado

Finally, at the hospital in the next district over, Mikado was resting in a 'double' room with Akane across from him and two other patients from Toshima General were also sharing a room with them. Since so many people had been forced to go to other nearby hospitals, rooms were crowded and often with mixed genders, but no one especially minded. The boy was joining the chatting and cheering on the Dollars site, a wry grin on his face as he told them 'good job', and they were all quite pleased with the compliment. Akane was sleeping, as was a man with a head wound, and the other woman, who was beside Akane, was reading a newspaper.

Izaya waltzed in, took a look around the room, and went to Mikado, asking, "So, did they get to recover the medical files?"

"My tests had been sent to a nearby lab for reading, so the hospital can get them for me—there's no way anything can be recovered from Toshima General right away. I mean, they're still finding bodies and trying to account for all the patients and staff, so they have no time to look for records," the boy replied, looking up from his phone. "Well, did you find out anything?"

"It blew out the main power box, then blew up the backup power generator. Nothing _natural_ did that," Izaya replied sourly, making the woman across the room look up from her paper in puzzlement. "Also, in the basement and the area around the generator, there was still that lingering, unnatural cold. It's definitely after you."

Shaking his head, the younger male sighed and said, "That didn't target me, though, and it killed a lot of people, not just ones who had terminal illnesses or needed life support. It was too broad to have been 'after me', don't you think?"

The information dealer leaned back a bit and crossed his arms as he said, "You're making excuses for this thing."

"Then, would it make more sense if I said it was 'testing' me, not 'trying to kill' me?" Mikado asked dryly, making the man's eyes widen. "Honestly, there was no 'luck' in what happened—it was _too_ convenient. Somehow, I could _just avoid_ everything dangerous near me, and the only time when I was in any danger was when I diverted from my path to help Akane. That one, I hadn't been intending on. My 'other self' was also apparently fully on instant-activate mode all night, not just with the mess, but before it, too, and even _without_ it, I was evading trouble and trouble spots. Or, more likely, the 'trouble' was made to be just far enough away from my intended paths to keep me out of harm's way."

"Are you saying it's reading your mind now, too?" the older man asked sharply.

With a shrug, the blue eyed boy said, "I don't know. I need to get out of here to do some research, though, and you still have other work to do. If the results of my tests come back today, I should be able to leave before nightfall, unless what they find is so bad they need me to stay."

Izaya paused, then frowned and said, "If that thing is following you, there's no guarantee you're going to be safe here—you probably won't, not for long."

Shrugging, Mikado answered, "It's not like I can do anything about it, and by extension, I probably won't be safe _anywhere_ for long. Anyway, come back this evening if you don't hear from me by...supper time, maybe?"

"And I suppose you think I'm just going to work on my other case when you could—"

"Yes, Izaya, I do."

"... ...Why?"

"Because that's important, too. Did you notice the post on the site, though, about the men going missing? One of the replies to it was singularly interesting, don't you think?"

After a moment, Izaya gave a snort and a smirk, then said, "Yes, yes, I have no excuse to ignore it, since they also know it's up there and seem to be tracking it, themselves. Also, you've got guards now, so I can't use your safety as an excuse."

"...Guards? What guards?" Mikado asked in surprise.

"Your new friend's guards have orders to keep _you_ safe, too, and no one dares tell off a yakuza group," the man smirked, giving a little chuckle, a playful twirl, and a wave. He then turned and headed for the door as he said, "You'll just _love_ the repercussions when you realize the full impact of what you did by saving Akane. In the mean time, I'll go back to work, but I'm not working exclusively for them right now, so I may have some news for you by evening, too. Call me sooner if they tell you it's fine for you to leave before then."

"Yeah, I'll—" the boy began—only to stop and sigh, since the man was already gone.

"You have quite an energetic friend," the woman in the other bed commented dryly.

"I do. That's because he's crazy, though," the younger boy laughed. "He keeps me on my toes, that's for sure."

They both chuckled before turning back to their other activities.

Mikado & Izaya

It was evening, and Shiki walked into the room—Akane's parents had visited before supper, while Mikado had been sleeping—to bring her the cell phone she'd wanted so desperately before and which her parents had forgotten. Shiki offered the device to the girl, who took it eagerly with a 'thank you' to her uncle, then looked over at Mikado.

"So, how are you doing, Ryuugamine?" the intelli-yakuza (they were called such because they were normally exclusive to information gathering) man in the white suit asked curiously.

"Well enough, given how my back is covered in bruises," the boy replied in amusement. "I'm still waiting to find out about the reason I was in the hospital in the _first_ place."

Nodding, the man answered, "I'd heard the incident was unusual enough to warrant a trip to the hospital for tests. The disaster couldn't have helped your concussion, either."

"It didn't. I won't be going to class—or doing much of anything—for a week now, and I have to come back to the hospital every other day for that time," Mikado told him.

"Mi~ka~do~!" Izaya burst out in a sing-song voice as he walked in, making everyone turn to stare at him like he was crazy, even as Akane began giggling. He then saw Shiki and paused, then smirked and said, "So you came to see your 'Young Miss', did you, Shiki? Sorry, but I already sent my report to your office, so this is my free time." He flounced over to Mikado's bed and offered him a special memory stick made for a cell phone.

"You _always_ decide randomly if you have 'free time' or not, so why bother saying so to me?" Shiki replied dryly. "Besides, your report had things in it we hadn't found out yet. I'm a little surprised you worked so well while your 'Queen' was out of commission."

Mikado flushed as Izaya blinked, then smirked in an almost strained manner, and the rest of the room's occupants stared at the three in complete confusion. After a bare instant, Izaya replied, "When the 'Queen' can't work, the 'King' has to take up the slack, after all. Obviously, I have more to look into yet, but I have other requirements right now as well, so I need to find time for those, too." As much as he hated cow-towing to Shiki in such a way, he had to be clear on the fact that he could never devote all his time to the yakuza, without insulting the man in the process.

Then it occurred to him to wonder what had caused Shiki to refer to Mikado as his 'Queen', a question Mikado also had by the startled expression on his face. Then, he wondered if he hadn't spoken quite quietly enough in the car all those months ago...

It looked like Shiki was going to reply, but the door opened and a doctor walked into the room, asking, "Ryuugamine Mikado?"

"That's me," Mikado said, raising his hand and still trying to cool his blush.

She gazed at his red face for a moment, then held up a state-of-the-art tablet and said, "We got back the results of the tests. Frankly, we're confused by them, but we can't actually find a _reason_ for what happened—it came out of nowhere. Did you want to discuss the issue privately?"

Shaking his head, the boy replied, "I'm not the only one who needs to know, and the other person who wants to hear it would prefer to hear it from the doctor directly."

Nodding, she moved over to stand by the bed, beside Izaya, and lowered her voice to say, "Basically, just before you fell and got that concussion, you were electrocuted with a force akin to a lightning bolt. It wasn't something coming from inside your own body—there would be flaws in the electrical impulses in your brain and heart if that was the case—so it came from an outside source. It also doesn't seem to have done any lasting damage, but we're going to have to monitor you for some time, especially if this happens again. We're going to keep looking into things which could have been the cause, but we know it isn't because you have too much metal minerals or heavy metals in your system. In fact, you took so little damage because you're _lacking_ the minerals, and the heavy metals aren't in high enough quantities to have an effect. The most you'll notice is some limb stiffness for a week or so."

Mikado looked up at Izaya, who had been reading over her shoulder, then turned his gaze back to her to ask, "Does that mean I can go?"

"You can," she agreed. "You already have to come back every other day for a week, so for now, we'll stick with that, for both your issues."

Suddenly, Izaya pointed at something on the pad and asked, "What's that reading for?"

Looking at it, she said, "Oh, that's not as uncommon as people think. It just means they have activity in parts of the brain which would usually be just gray matter. We associate it with spiritualists, and when it turns up in a CAT scan in an indigo color, it generally was _always_ there."

"Why is indigo special?" the man asked with a frown.

"Look up the term 'Indigo Children' online (1) and you'll probably find out," the doctor replied dryly. "Either way, it actually has no bearing on this situation, other than that it probably also helped protect his mind and body from the shock."

"Izaya, I'll look it up for myself," Mikado said as the man was about to ask more.

The information dealer's gaze went to him as he replied, "Around your resting, I don't mind." He then looked at the woman and asked, "So we can get Mikado checked out of the hospital now?"

"I don't see why not, as long as someone will be checking on him daily while he's recovering," she agreed.

"Oh, don't worry. He won't be staying in his own place while he's recovering," Izaya answered dryly, making her blink, then nod slowly as Mikado gave a little, amused sigh. The man then produced a plastic bag, which he offered to the boy as he said, "Your other clothes got incinerated, so I brought you a change. I also ordered you another school uniform."

Blinking, Mikado looked up at the man and said, "Thank you, but I should have at least gotten my own uniform."

"With what money?" the man asked dryly, and Mikado blushed. It was true he didn't have a lot of money to use on things outside basic and school needs—it was enough of a struggle for his parents to pay for his schooling and small apartment in the city as it was.

Not long after, the teen had dressed and checked out of the hospital, and the two were soon on their way to Izaya's place.

Once at their destination, the black haired teen thought to ask, "So...exactly where am I going to sleep?"

"With me," the man replied impishly. He then watched with amusement as the younger of the pair almost fainted, then stumbled over to the couch and collapsed on it. "I promise to behave," he added with a smirk.

Mikado's only reply was a grunt of sorts the man almost missed, given how the teen had face-planted himself on the sofa. After a moment, the boy turned his head to the side and asked, "For how long?"

"Oh, I'm hurt!" the information broker cried theatrically. "Of course, if I give my word, I keep it! You know that, don't you, Mikado?"

With a snort, the teenager replied, "You do, but when you don't specify a time frame you'll keep it during, you won't keep it for very long."

Izaya's eye twitched in frustration at that, since he knew very well the boy was also right about it. He'd thought it would be the perfect opportunity to progress their relationship further than kissing and cuddling, but it seemed he'd made the boy a little _too_ shrewd. Mind you, in a way, that was also good news, since it meant the 'damage' to the boy's brain, both from the shock and the concussion, was minimal, if there even had been any, but it was bad for his more—he hated to admit it—_human_ desires. But, he still had one card to play.

"You owe me for playing rescue hero for you, so I should be allowed to break it a little, don't you think?" the man asked, smirking in triumph.

"If you're given an inch, you take a mile," the boy replied blandly.

Sitting down hard on the coffee table in front of the couch, the information broker just had to stare in something like amazement at his younger 'Queen'. Oh, yes, the boy had indeed learned quickly. "What would you suggest, then?" the man asked dryly.

"Since my staying here was _so_ well-thought-out—no doubt deliberately—you have to behave for the week," Mikado replied. "After that...I don't know, but that would be when you could claim what's owed. Just don't push your luck if you don't like my other self trying to gut you."

"...I'm just curious, but isn't the 'King' supposed to have power over the 'Queen'?" Izaya asked in a decidedly wry tone.

"If you're talking about chess, the King is the _weakest_ piece on the game board. I'd even give a regular pawn more credit for power." One amused, blue eye opened to meet a frustrated auburn pair. "Perversely, the Queen is the _strongest_ piece on the board, so if anyone was giving orders, it would be her. Shiki will probably reach that realization, too, after what you said earlier, so you kinda walked into your own word trap. Now, I'm going to bed. Remember to behave for the week."

Slowly, the younger of the two pushed himself up and wandered off to the bedroom, even as the man had to sigh and admit the boy had a point.

He was really starting to hate his boyfriend having a lot of free time to think about things like that. On the other hand, it made things more interesting and more of a challenge if the boy had so much free time...

**Notes:**

(1) Since I wrote this, it's honestly been around a decade, and things on-line have changed a lot since then, notably with new censoring going on. I don't actually know if you'd find accurate or factual data about Indigo Children anymore, but the search definitely produces different results.

So, to give a few basics, Indigo Children (and their descendants, whom I've heard called Crystal Children, whose children are in turn called Rainbow Children) are people who notably have an unusual ability in the spiritual sense. The Indigos began appearing around the 1980's, the Crystals around the 2000's, and the Rainbows around in the last decade or so.

Their abilities follow the aspects of ESP (extra-sensory perception), which falls into five categories, clairvoyance, post-cognition, pre-cognition, telepathy (and empathy), and psychokinesis, also called telekinesis. Most other skills fall under one or more of these categories (pyrokinesis, for example, is merely psychokinesis at a molecular level). Most Indigo Children don't have something as flashy as psychokinesis. When the reason for the story title appears, I'll add an explanation for it, because the details aren't in the story line directly.

**If you want more details on ESP, I would recommend the manga "Mai the Psychic Girl", written by Kudo Kazuya and art by Ikegami Ryo(u)ichi (in the English printing, the names are reversed and the bracketed u has been removed), which was written (or at least translated into English) back in 1995—it gives a lot of actually valid information, story line aside, though that's great, too.**


	6. 06-New Danger

New Danger

It was the next day when Mikado woke—and found himself momentarily confused by the scenery. It was a bedroom much larger than his whole apartment, and the bed was larger than he'd ever slept on, with a panoramic view of the city. Turning his head to look around, he saw Izaya sleeping on the far side of the bed, near the balcony doors, while the boy was closer to the inside door. At first, he was even more puzzled, but suddenly, he remembered—the man had insisted Mikado stay with him while he was recovering.

Recovering.

With a sigh, the teen sat up and began making a mental note of everything he'd been through over the last two days. As though just the concussion from falling down the stairs wasn't bad enough, he'd also been electrocuted, frozen half-to-death, gotten into a verbal spat with a yakuza member, had the hospital nearly fall on him, almost gotten caught in any number of fires and live wires, and had to do more physical activity than he'd ever done in gym class. His whole body still hurt, though it was more of a dull, sullen kind of pain, and he had no classes to go to so he could take his mind off the situation.

As he got up to use the washroom and get some painkillers, Izaya said from behind him, "You're supposed to be resting."

Turning back to look at the man, the boy saw he hadn't even rolled over to face him, but felt he'd get quite a—violent—reaction if he just walked away. With a sigh, he said pointedly, "_Resting_. Not sleeping, not staying in bed. I can rest in the bathtub or on the couch. And there are some things I'm not about to do in a bedroom, like using the toilet, thanks. I don't think either of us or your carpet would appreciate that."

After a momentary silence, the man sighed and admitted, "Good point."

Mikado turned to leave the room, but stopped at the door before leaving and looked back to say, "Thanks, Izaya." He then left, even as the man sat up quickly in something like surprise.

In the washroom, he took the painkiller and did his business, then felt a long, hot bath would probably be good for him (for his back's sake), so drew the water. It was a pretty big tub, but it was more along the lines of 'practical' rather than 'extravagant', as it was just the right size for someone around Izaya's height to lounge in without having to bend at the knee. As such, it was easy to get comfortable, and before he realized it, the black haired teen was _waking up_ in lukewarm water.

Making a face, he rose and dried off, admitting he felt better than he had for the last few days, so the bath had been the right choice. Once he was done and dressed—in a fresh pair of clothes apparently left by Izaya while he had been sleeping—he joined the man in the main room. By then, Namie was there as well, and there were food cartons for a place near the Shinjuku apartment sitting on the coffee table. Izaya was at his desk with a coffee from the restaurant, and Namie had a carton in front of her beside a mug she'd brought from home. As such, the food which was left was probably for him. Moving over to the couch and sitting, the boy started eating as he noted a laptop sitting close at hand on the couch.

"You fell asleep in the tub," the man commented in amusement without looking away from his work.

"I noticed. You left a change of clothes, too," Mikado replied.

"What were you thanking me for?" the older man asked in a quizzical tone.

Blinking in momentary surprise, the teen tried to figure out how Izaya didn't know, then realized—he never really got gratitude from others. With a bit of a wry grin, Mikado said, "You kept your word. At least, you have so far. Apparently, I'm going to fall asleep at strange moments and sleep soundly for the next little while, so I'm grateful you're going to keep it."

A long silence followed the words, then the man said, "The laptop is for you to use for the day. You can go online or not, but once you choose a place to sit, make an effort to stay there—the _last_ thing I want is a repeat of the chaos of the last two days."

"I have things I want to research, anyway," the teen agreed. "Also, I'm not one for physical activity if I can help it, so I usually _don't_ move any more than absolutely required. With all my current aches and pains, I won't be moving too much."

"And a sixteen-year-old still doesn't need a live-in babysitter," Namie threw in with a scowl at the two before going back to her own work.

"That's what _I_ said, too," Mikado told her. "But Izaya insisted."

"You get into too much trouble when I'm not close by," the information dealer replied in a dry tone. "And the doctors didn't want you to be alone for the week, anyway."

"...So, about the post on the Dollars site...?" the black haired teen asked after a short pause, curious about how the man had taken it.

"Yes..." the older of the two murmured, sitting back in his seat with a thoughtful expression. "I had to read it more than once to realize what I had to track down. '_What if they didn't all disappear at the same time or from the same place? I heard from a friend who works at a hospital in Shibuya that two of their terminally ill patients, both guys, vanished in one month, and they kept it covered up. Maybe there's a lot more vanishings like that than we know?_' I thought it was especially strange for nothing about the massacre to appear on the news anywhere, and it was a terror to try to find the morgue they had been taken to. Getting any data on them from there was like pulling teeth, but it would seem they have a viable link—the ones not belonging to Awakusu-kai did indeed match the DNA and other details of the missing hospital patients."

"All of them?" Mikado asked in surprise.

"That, I haven't found out, yet. They're trying very hard to keep me from being able to cross reference them, and even the hospitals are keeping data about missing patients from me. I've affirmed nine so far, though, which is a fairly large number, more than I could ever call 'coincidence'. Regardless, I'm working on finding the data on more of them."

After a silence, the younger man sighed and finished eating, then picked up the laptop and settled comfortably on the couch. It felt like he hadn't had any quiet time like this for a really long time, and yet, he'd been having a lot of it until Awakusu-kai's visit to the office three days ago. Now, he had a lot of things to look up, and wasn't quite sure where to start. More, Izaya had probably looked up almost everything to do with the whole situation, so doing the same things over again would be redundant.

All the same, he started by looking up stuff about soulless bodies, and about zombies. He hadn't been expecting much, but soon after, he found out about a large number of ways people could appear to be zombies, from a strain of Mad Cow Disease which could transfer to humans to a strange drug used in some places in Africa and another similar one used in the area of New Orleans in the United States. It was some pretty scary stuff, and left him feeling rather ill, since most of those options were actually _worse_ realities than any of the 'living dead' stuff in horror stories.

Wanting to take his mind off that, he instead looked up the two things he knew about the force apparently following him around—the 'chill' and the 'electrocution'. The former led him to spirits in general, then to evil spirits in particular, while the latter led him to the phrase 'electrokinesis'. Basically, it was the ability to control electricity, and it was a very rare and powerful skill, one rarely seen in humans. Even the power to call a lightning bolt down from the sky which some onmyouji in the past had possessed was nothing compared to _real_ electrokinesis. Furthermore, society itself could be destroyed in the blink of an eye by an electrokinetic with decent strength, given how it relied almost solely on electricity, and any electrokinetic had plenty of fuel on hand in such a society.

The big question was more along the lines of what kind of being would use it.

In the end, Mikado didn't find out the answer right away, because Izaya's office got busy and he wound up going to the bedroom to rest—only to fall back into sleep.

Izaya & Mikado

When he woke, he felt a weight at his hip, and opened his eyes tiredly to two things. One was Izaya sitting beside him while the other was a night sky outside the window to the apartment. The man said, "It's pretty late. Eat or I'll feed you."

"...You're getting annoying, Izaya," the boy sighed, but grinned faintly in amusement. "And I'd be worried about what you'd feed me—probably something with a drug in it."

The man's brow rose as he smirked and replied, "Now, if I was going to do that, you'd never even suspect it until it was too late. You're an amazing human, but there are a lot of ways to drug someone without them knowing it, and you know only a very small number of them." As he spoke, he reached over and picked a tray up off the nightstand beside the bed, and waited while Mikado sat up to take it.

"Anything new?" Mikado asked as he ate quickly. After all, the older man was just sitting there, peering at him intently—it was the sort of thing Izaya only did when he wanted something, otherwise he'd watch the boy from a distance, not right beside him.

"Not in particular," the man replied with a smirk. "Finish eating." When Mikado did, Izaya took the tray to put it back on the nightstand, then said, "Anyway, everyone else has left, including Namie, so you can return to the couch if you like." He paused for a moment before adding, "But first—"

A moment later, the auburn eyed man had leaned down to claim his younger partner's lips with his own. The depth and intensity of the kiss was much like the day Shiki, Akabayashi, and Aozaki had dropped by, and Mikado was reminded again how little he actually knew about relationships, either emotionally or physically. This time, as Izaya kissed him, the older man's hands slid under his body and shirt, then gently up his bare back, even as he couldn't resist moaning into the other's lips. He was a little tempted to let Izaya have his way that time.

Sharp, cold metal against the back of his neck dashed that thought—but he didn't have enough time to react as he felt something familiar.

Izaya had already cut a mark into his skin, and he felt something—not the exact same sensation he'd felt with the soul severing mark the man had put on his hand, but rather, something like a tug-and-pull. It also had a different effect, as he felt something splintering around him, and the pull began to drag his spirit upwards, disengaging him from the man he was certain he'd just been touching. He had an uncanny sensation of vertigo, but then felt something akin to his soul stretching, and the feeling somewhat eased, even as the pain from the knife wound vanished and he felt somehow cold. A thread...it was a sensation like all that was holding him above a chasm was a single thread.

Opening his eyes, the blue eyed teen had to pause, then close his eyes again and rub them vigorously. When he opened them again, the view was the same—he was literally hanging above the city, staring down over it. A thought about what was going on hung on his lips, but he didn't voice it, even as he wondered if he was back in that netherworld. A quick way to find out would be to see the speed everything was moving at, so he thought about looking in on Masaomi. But how could he—?

The thought never got to finish as his mind called up an image of his friend—only for him to suddenly find himself right in front of the other teen. There was a girl with the blond whom Mikado had never seen before, and for once, all of his friend's attention was on her, not on anyone else, and there certainly were girls and women nearby who were more attractive than she was. It made Mikado wonder if she was the one called Saki, who was Masaomi's steady girlfriend—and it made the black haired teen question the logic behind trying to pick up other girls when he already had one.

It took almost no time at all for the blue eyed teen to realize everything was moving at the right speed, so he wasn't in the netherworld, and that no one could see him.

If that was the case, where _was_ he? Was there someone he could somehow ask? At least he knew he'd be able to go to the person he thought about—at least, if it was the same with everyone as it had been with Masaomi, such was the case.

He'd only know if he tried it, so the one he was most likely to be able to get answers from—was Celty, as she by her nature may be able to see him.

With that thought, he was suddenly in front of her as she sat on the couch in her apartment and watched television, and her _roommate_ was apparently in another room, talking to someone. The voice was too low to be heard clearly, and it was probably a phone discussion by the pauses in it—but he didn't have much time to think about that as the Dullahan was suddenly on her feet and right in front of him, her neck gushing shadows as she held up her PDA and showed it to him.

[What in the world happened to you, Mikado?!] she asked him in alarm. [How did you become a ghost?]

"_...Ghost?"_ he asked in stunned surprise, looking down at himself. Sure enough, his body was rather transparent, leaving him stunned.

Just before he was about to break down in despair, Celty shoved her PDA right under his nose, asking, [How did you get to be like that?]

Looking up at her slowly, the boy shook his head slowly as he said, _"Izaya cut a mark into the back of my neck, but not the same one which would send me to the netherworld the Midnight Man was from. I...don't actually feel dead, but...I can't tell you anything else."_

A silence fell, then the headless woman began typing slowly. When she was done, she showed him her PDA, but the whole feeling seemed heavy and lost. [Do you really intend to stay with him now?]

"_This isn't the time to discuss that,"_ Mikado replied dryly, suddenly feeling somewhat better about the situation. _"Do you have any ideas about this?"_

[Well...There's one. Can you find any kind of attachment to your own body?] she asked, hoping he would find one.

"_Er...do you mean that 'thread' or whatever I can feel? As far as I know, it formed when I felt myself being pulled upward, and it seems to return to my body,"_ he told her, thinking hard about anything else which could possibly be the 'attachment' Celty meant.

[Then it's probably all right, since you're just letting your spirit travel...even if it _is_ by force and against your will,] the supernatural woman explained.

"Celty, what are you doing?" a young man's voice suddenly asked from behind her.

Looking past the Dullahan, Mikado saw Shinra there, then asked Celty, _"Can he see and hear me, too?"_

After a pause, she replied, [Probably not.] She then faced her _roommate_ and told him, [Sorry, this may seem very strange, but a spirit came to see me. If you can't see him, I'll just finish my discussion with him in another room.]

"A spirit?" the young Underground doctor asked in surprise. "I don't mind if you want to finish your discussion. I still have patients to take care of, anyway. Really, I just wanted a drink, but then I saw you standing in the middle of the room, showing your PDA to the air, so I had to ask." With that, he gave her a cheerful grin and wave, went to the kitchen to get his drink, then headed back towards the rooms in the rear of the apartment.

After a silence while both watched him walk away, the blue eyed boy asked slowly, _"I'm...letting my spirit travel?"_

Facing him again, she explained, [The netherworld isn't the only other 'plain' of existence. There are several, some more closely linked than others. Besides that, there are also 'in between' zones, where you aren't quite in one 'world', nor are you in another, so the results are things like...taking a spirit form and walking, flying, or teleporting around the physical world. That's the most common form for both various spirits and for detached human souls to wander around in, and that's where you are now. It's not the astral plain and it's not the physical plain, so you're in an astral form in the physical world—but as long as you have that link to your body, you should be able to return to your body when you want to. (1) I think it's called astral projection...?]

"_...Is it still true I can return to my body when I have a mark on me which caused me to enter this state to begin with?"_

[...May I see the back of your neck?]

After a momentary pause, the black haired boy nodded and faced away from her so she could see the mark, using one hand to push his shirt back so the hem would fall below it. Since the mark was at the base of his neck, he knew he'd have to do that much for her to see it—he didn't think she'd be able to touch him while he was in the form she called an 'astral form'.

When he turned back to face her, she said, [I'm surprised, since that 'seal' actually just does two very basic, non-harmful things. One is to allow courage, or bravery, and the other is to allow a person to access their own spiritual powers more easily. How you got astral projection and travel out of the deal, I can't fathom—people traditionally have to _try_ to use such travel. On the other hand, it should actually facilitate returning to your body. The question then is if he told you anything to indicate what he intended for you to do, since I'm sure you never discussed this with him.]

Mikado didn't have to ask who the 'he' was—it was Izaya. _"I have no idea. What does this form let me do?"_

[...More like, what _doesn't_ it?] Her aura seemed amused as she typed that to him, but quickly went on, [I don't know all the details, but it's a very versatile form. You can go to anyone, any location, or even any event you want to go to, you can see and hear what's going on there, and if you're powerful enough, you can even touch and move things in some other location (2).] Again, she paused for a minute, then added, [But there are dangers, too. If you meet real angels, demons, or other spirits and they take an interest in you, since you aren't used to fighting in that form, you could even have your soul destroyed. The same is true if a psychic sees you. It's not something to do lightly.]

There was always a danger. Mikado knew it would have been too good to be true if she'd said there was no harm in it, but...his soul could be destroyed? Was it really worth traveling in that form if the danger was so high?

Looking up at her, the boy asked, _"How likely is it that I'll meet spirits or psychics while I'm like this?"_

[...It depends.]

"_On what?"_

The Dullahan didn't reply right away, as though she was uncertain about how to reply, or possibly wondering just how much she should say. Finally, she told him, [If a spirit or psychic is interested in you, it's almost guaranteed they'll find you, but...you could go looking for them without meaning to, draw them to you by using some other kind of ability while in that form—like moving something in the physical world—or even run into them by going to the wrong place by accident. Perversely, though, you can _avoid_ them the same way—by thinking about avoiding them, rather than ignoring their presence or going to them. Well, unless the 'object' of your search is such a being by its nature.]

After a moment, the black haired boy began pacing as he thought deeply about what he should do next—and stopped as he asked, _"Celty, do you think I should go back to my body or look around?"_

[Well...for now, it's probably better if you go back. Until the mark fades, it shouldn't be hard for you to do this, since it's been cut into your skin, and it isn't as specific as the one you used on the Taker. At first, if you're going to experiment with this state at all, do it close to your body so you can retreat to it quickly if something happens.]

"_All right, I'll keep that in mind. Thanks for your help, Celty."_

[Oh, Mikado...there was one more thing.]

"_There was?"_

[...It isn't really a good thing for Izaya to keep using blood seals on you...so it would be best if you told him to stop.]

"_...What's a blood seal?"_

[Any magical, spiritual, or religious mark made with blood. And stop relying on him to give you information, since he's just proven he isn't going to unless he has no choice. Find out for yourself what all of this is.]

For some reason he didn't understand, the words scared him, so he gave her a wave and thought about going back to his body. He knew very well he was retreating, running away, but he wasn't ready to think about what Izaya had done to him, or what plans the man had in the future. One thing about it was that his cold self somehow hadn't reacted, but as soon as the blade cut his skin, it should have.

As he was—or should have been—appearing in front of his own body, he hit something white and suddenly felt like he was trapped. All he could see around him at first was a white space with no features, and it was so bright he couldn't even see his own body, but it somehow didn't hurt his eyes. After a moment, though, he blinked, then blinked again—

Something was there, in the light in front of him!

It seemed to be shaped somewhat like a human, but he couldn't see it clearly to say anything about its features. What he could see, vaguely, was a bow in its hand, even as it shot an arrow blazing with blue-violet light at something beyond the whiteness. Once the arrow was gone, the being turned—and Mikado had the eerie sensation it was looking at him.

In sudden fear, he thought desperately about being _inside_ his own body again, and he was suddenly yanked out of the light to drop into darkness.

**Notes:**

(1) Yes, I do believe Celty would know this information as a 'death fairy', because souls and their activities would be part of her purview. Even if she doesn't actually know much about other psychic abilities and has an odd fascination with aliens, she'd still know more than the average person.

(2) Focus 10 is a branch of astral projection, which is also a branch of the listed abilities for ESP. Astral projection was broken into several 'types', and Focus 10 is the branch which is essentially passive exploration. Mikado's not influencing his surroundings when he travels (as a rule), just going to look around, and other than once, all of his travel is that way.

In the manga/anime called "Ghost Hunt", Mai Taniyama (no, she's not related to the Mai in "Mai the Psychic Girl") also has the ability to project, but she's so powerful she actually handed a physical object to the girl she visited during one of those projections. If you don't know why this is a big deal, ask yourself how a spirit even HAD a very real and tangible key to hand to a physical person who was very far away from her at the time (the key also vanished out of her physical pocket at the time she 'handed it' to the girl she had projected to). And her doing that would have a completely different Focus number than what Mikado is doing. In fact, what Mikado is doing is MILD by the terms of astral projection.

PrettyWilde actually knows more about the Focus categories than I do, but I don't know if she's still around for you to ask—it won't hurt to try, anyway, if you want more details.


	7. 07-Contact

**A/N:** Since most chat sites have a character limit per post put up, the character limit I'm working with in general in this story is 300. That includes spaces and punctuation in text, btw. Any long 'chatroom text posts' will be 300 characters or less, and as a result will sometimes split sentences in two. As happens in real chatrooms online.

Contact

Mikado's eyes opened suddenly and he sat up quickly, then he felt a sensation like he was being choked and reached up to touch his neck. He felt cloth around it, so got up and headed for the bathroom, where he saw it had been bound with gauze bandages. Once he knew that, he went limp with relief and sagged against the counter, thinking hard about what had just happened and what Celty had told him about it. Or trying to think about it all.

"So you're awake," a familiar, somehow amused and cautious, voice said from behind him, breaking off his thoughts.

Before Mikado could stop himself, he felt a burst of bitterness and anger, even as he clenched his fists and tried to calm down enough to talk. Even though he knew Izaya was like that, exactly as Celty had said, it bothered him a good deal more than he cared to admit. For what he thought was probably the first time in his life, he felt like he wanted to yell and scream and hit someone, and that was _without_ his other self being in control. In a way, it was probably a good thing, because his cold self would probably just kill the man, rather than getting angry and wanting to throw a tantrum.

Gentle hands on his shoulders made him tense, spin, and swat them away, even as he headed past the man without looking at him. "Mikado—" Izaya tried to say.

"Just leave me alone!" the boy replied harshly in anger, going to the main room and sitting in front of the computer he usually used.

Once there, he decided Celty was right and he had to find out about things on his own, without the man telling him. The first thing he wanted to know about was why blood seals (1) were so dangerous the Dullahan had felt a need to warn him about them in the first place. Going online, he did a search for the term—and immediately felt ill by what he first found out about such seals, but kept doing more research into them. The initial 'illness' he'd felt still had some value, but he found very quickly that the most commonly mentioned and most radical form of a blood seal was far from the truth.

In short, the commonly mentioned blood seals used very specific blood to create and bind an effect, such as keeping a dangerous demon from escaping. Sacrificial rituals were blood seals in an attempt to appease 'angry gods', while some demons were so powerful, a psychic in the past used their blood—and often their life—to seal them away, creating a seal only someone with the psychic's blood could break. Basically, if Abe no Seimei had ever used his blood to create a seal, only someone from his bloodline, someone who shared his blood, could break the seal. Outside those types of effects, blood seals were used to cause harm, often by using the blood, or the life, of someone (the caster or a sacrifice) else to create the effect and make sure it worked.

All of that was bad things about blood seals, and led a person to believe it meant someone was going to die.

In fact, there were seals a person could use which required no such sacrifice, but which would create an effect like protection, good health, good family ties, and so on, and which could be done with or without blood. Many of those were purely selfish, so Mikado wasn't tempted to use them, since they left a bad taste in his mouth—getting revenge was no reason to use some kind of magical seal! By creating the seal using a small amount of one's blood, it meant the seal was tied to the person, so it would have no influence or impact on anyone but them. Generally, the amount of blood needed in such a seal was small, just a few drops, and still meant only someone who shared their blood could break it.

However, using a blood seal also tied one's energy into the seal, itself, so the one whose blood was in it would feel it if something damaged or manipulated it somehow.

The 'feeling' could range from dizziness to excruciating, crippling pain, which he was sure was Celty's main worry, so for all the good and bad, his feeling was that a blood seal was only to be used in the direst circumstances and only by someone who fully understood the implications of them. Twice now, Izaya had forced one on him, with him none the wiser about the possible effects they could have, either on others or on himself, just by the fact that they used his blood. More, the same effect could have been created _without_ cutting his skin, and it would have been safer and more controlled if it had just been drawn on, rather than cut into him so he had no way of getting it off, and therefore, no way of stopping the effect.

"Mikado—" Izaya began again, some time later.

"Shut up. I don't want to talk with you right now," the blue eyed boy replied sharply, avoiding looking at the man.

"Then sleep on the couch," the black haired man replied, equally as sharply, even as something glass was placed beside him. "But _don't_ leave."

When the man was gone, blue eyes gazed at the glass of juice Izaya had left for him, then turned slowly to look around the room. The curtains were closed, the clock read around three in the morning, and a thick, warm blanket had been left on the couch, along with some cookies.

With a sigh, he began to wonder how long he should stay angry with the man. It was Izaya's habit of keeping him on his toes which he liked so much about the man, but there were times where it was better to be honest. The idea obviously had no meaning to the older of the two, so there would probably always be such a point of aggravation between them. More, it wasn't a feeling he liked, since it always meant there could never be any complete trust, either.

Suddenly, he saw a note saying he had mail—a function he'd added to the computer he usually used at the man's place so he could check it more readily. It made him wonder why he was being sent something in the middle of the night, so he went online to check it—and frowned in confusion.

_From: Tsukumoya Shinichi _(2)

_To: Ryuugamine Mikado_

_Since it seems you've gotten mixed up with Orihara Izaya, we need to talk. Come to my private chatroom. Data enclosed._

Who in the world was Tsukumoya Shinichi? Should he go talk with him? Well, he'd never know who the man was or how he was involved with Izaya if he didn't go, and since the man had included a password and the link to the private chatroom, he decided to meet with him. Would he really be there in the middle of the night, though? Then again, he'd been sent the data in the middle of the night...

Clicking the link, he arrived on the page to the unfamiliar chatroom and put in his own name as the user name (as instructed) and the password he'd been given—and stared in surprise at the words which came up.

_Ryuugamine Mikado is resurrected from the dead!_

_Tsukumoya Shinichi: So you're here. Welcome. I'm sure you have plenty of questions, so feel free to ask._

_Ryuugamine Mikado: Yes...why did you even send me that e-mail?_

_Tsukumoya Shinichi: Because Izaya has a bad habit of keeping important information from people, mostly because he likes 'playing' with them too much—he deliberately doesn't give them the data so he can see how they react. Unfortunately, they usually react by breaking._

_Tsukumoya Shinichi: The fact that you haven't after nine months of dealing with him is a rather impressive feat, one worthy of note._

Taking some time to muse over the answer again made him wonder exactly who the other man was.

_Ryuugamine Mikado: So, exactly who are you, Tsukumoya Shinichi?_

_Tsukumoya Shinichi: I just wander around the Net looking for interesting things and information, and choose very specific people to give it to. I never sell it, just give it._

_Ryuugamine Mikado: ...All right...even though that isn't really an answer...What information did you want to give me?_

_Tsukumoya Shinichi: Come, now, surly you're intelligent enough to think of things I may be able to tell you about. You've been dealing with Izaya this whole time, after all._

For a minute, Mikado assessed that, wondering if there was a particular reason the man wouldn't just tell him straight-out. Maybe it was based on priority? Or was he being tested somehow? Either way, he was curious.

_Ryuugamine Mikado: Why does he keep using blood seals on me?_

_Tsukumoya Shinichi: Because he's an idiot who thinks it's better to use them because they're more stable than normal seals. He already knows all the data you just found out earlier, so he is well aware of what he's doing, and has convinced himself it's safer than more traditional methods._

_Tsukumoya Shinichi: Frankly, I think that's just his love of blades talking, more than anything._

_Ryuugamine Mikado: . Um...How would you know I just found out anything earlier?_

_Tsukumoya Shinichi: I track certain people because I find them interesting._

Now the boy wasn't sure he wanted to proceed with the discussion, but going back and rereading the last part about Izaya made him think it was a valid point. If the man knew so much about even someone like the auburn eyed man, it may be worth finding out more.

_Ryuugamine Mikado: ...When he put the most recent one on me, my body and soul were severed, and someone who could see me told me I was in astral form._

_Tsukumoya Shinichi: Hence the reason you were looking up blood seals. Now, there are things you need to know which relate to that, and I can't necessarily just tell you all of it, because supernatural events are highly subjective. The same seal could be put on someone else and their experiences may be entirely_

_Tsukumoya Shinichi: different from yours. There is a group of people called 'Indigo Children', who began being born in the early nineteen eighties, and whose natural abilities and interests veer towards the supernatural. You, according to the hospital scans, are one of them. It also means the supernatural itself has_

_Tsukumoya Shinichi: more of an interest in you than normal. What's odd about you is that you're male, and the general trend of Indigo Children is female—there are a few males, but not many in comparison._

_Ryuugamine Mikado: But I never encountered anything supernatural until I came to the city almost two years ago now._

_Tsukumoya Shinichi: Then you were lucky. As of now, you can't take the things going on around you as 'normal'. If you were using astral projection, you'll have to learn to defend yourself a bit, and I sure can't teach you anything that arcane._

_Tsukumoya Shinichi: Here. Have a look at these sites, and you'll be able to get some better information than I can give._

At that point, a list of over a dozen web sites appeared on the screen, and Mikado had to stare. Curious in spite of himself, he began reading the link text—and realized there were links for more than psychic sites for defensive skills. A couple had to do with supernatural beings, even Gods, some were specific to Indigo Children, some were about the astral plain, and some—were about known psychic powers, ones even humans could potentially have. There was no way he could go through it all right away, so he made bookmarks for the sites before going back to his discussion with the other man.

_Ryuugamine Mikado: That's a very broad list, and will take awhile to go through. I have a few more questions in the meantime, if that's all right?_

_Tsukumoya Shinichi: Of course._

_Ryuugamine Mikado: When I was trying to return to my body, I hit a bubble of light and saw some kind of being in it, one who shot an arrow somewhere. The being saw me. Do you know anything about the being I saw, or more importantly, whether it'll try to harm me now that I've seen it?_

_Tsukumoya Shinichi: I can't tell you whether it'll take any kind of interest in you at all, but I doubt it was coincidence you hit a bubble like that in the first place. People returning to their bodies don't have bubbles of light getting in the way—you're effectively teleporting right back to yourself, so you really_

_Tsukumoya Shinichi: couldn't have hit anything that way. Unless you were doing it the hard way and making your soul fly back to your body, within the limitations of the physical world?_

_Ryuugamine Mikado: No, as far as I knew, I was teleporting—I had already done so twice before trying to get back to my body, so...What you're saying is that either someone else much more powerful directed me there or something I was thinking about made me appear there instead of in my own body?_

_Tsukumoya Shinichi: Those are the most viable options. Spiritual and psychic events are rarely accidental. Though, were you trying to 'go back to' your body or trying to 'go back inside' your body when that happened?_

_Ryuugamine Mikado: ...Er...I think I was trying to go TO it...Is there a difference?_

_Tsukumoya Shinichi: You go to visit your friend. You don't go INSIDE your friend by going TO them, do you? The same is true of going back to your own body when your soul has left it—you have to direct yourself more specifically and take terms by what they actually 'are', not what you've been taught they 'mean'._

_Tsukumoya Shinichi: Basically, take the English phrase 'it's raining cats and dogs'...The term is used to say it's raining heavily, but when you're in spirit form or on the astral plain...what does the phrase actually 'say'? That cats and dogs are falling out of the rainclouds._

_Tsukumoya Shinichi: So, start learning to think more specifically and to say and think what you actually mean, because letting your soul leave your body will be much more dangerous if you don't control your own thoughts._

_Ryuugamine Mikado: ...I see. And the entity? Or is that a no-go?_

_Tsukumoya Shinichi: There are a good many 'Gods' around the world who take the role of some kind of archer, including at least one here in Japan. One of those sites I gave you should allow you to find out more._

_Ryuugamine Mikado: All right, thanks. The last thing I wanted to ask about is something more physical in nature...Do you know anything about the massacre Awakusa-kai suffered? Like, what caused it, where all the attackers came from, those kinds of things?_

_Tsukumoya Shinichi: Quite. I assume Nebula got their hands on one of the African drugs which turn people into living dead, but the people they made into those things..._

_Ryuugamine Mikado: Yes?_

_Tsukumoya Shinichi: They were all going to die within a month, anyway._

_Ryuugamine Mikado: :( That doesn't make it right._

_Tsukumoya Shinichi: I didn't say that._

_Ryuugamine Mikado: So is it true and they're all disappearing from hospitals?_

_Tsukumoya Shinichi: Most of them. A few aren't, since they're from care homes or personal homes where the result was the same._

_Ryuugamine Mikado: Why did Nebula send them to attack Awakusu-kai?_

_Tsukumoya Shinichi: They didn't._

_Ryuugamine Mikado: ...Sorry...They didn't?_

_Tsukumoya Shinichi: Do you recall the explosion at Nebula two and a half months ago?_

For a minute, the boy sat there, staring in shock at the screen, then formulated a reply, even as he felt his gut twisting.

_Ryuugamine Mikado: Are you saying the explosion wasn't an accident as Nebula said, but was an attack so someone else could steal their test subjects?_

_Tsukumoya Shinichi: Effectively. But Nebula kept it very, very quiet because they had also been doing illegal experiments and kidnappings, so even I don't know who took the test subjects. It was that other party which set those subjects on Awakusu-kai, not Nebula._

_Ryuugamine Mikado: That's...horrible stuff...but you've been really helpful, so thanks._

_Tsukumoya Shinichi: Izaya already knew Nebula had been kidnapping people to experiment on—he figured it out shortly after the post went up on the Dollars site. What he hasn't yet done is connected the explosion to the experiments having been stolen, so now you know more than him._

_Tsukumoya Shinichi: And he should have told you the whole truth about what he'd found out._

_Tsukumoya Shinichi: Oh, and there was one other thing I thought you should know. Don't go to the Dullahan's home very often, and don't wander around it in spirit form, because there are things you DON'T want to know happening there. For example, the yakuza men hurt in the attack weren't taken to the hospital,_

_Tsukumoya Shinichi: they were taken to Kishitani Shinra, whose father works for Nebula._

_Ryuugamine Mikado: O.O Okay, I'll stick to the main rooms there, and only if it's just Celty there. Thanks. I'd better go look at all those sites now, so thank you again for your help._

_Tsukumoya Shinichi: Of course._

At that, Mikado logged off the site, gaping as a line appeared for an instant before he was back on the login screen: '_Ryuugamine Mikado has died!_' Suddenly, the line when he first came on made sense, and he chuckled a bit to himself as he went on to the other sites.

Mikado & Izaya

When Izaya woke in the morning, he found the boy had taken him at his word and stayed in the living room—assuming he had, in fact, stayed at the apartment. While he liked to think he would notice the door opening, he wasn't usually so careless as to stay up until almost three in the morning, so he may have slept soundly enough to not have heard the door. Rising, he headed for the main room—and stopped to stare as he found Mikado asleep on the couch with the laptop still on (though in sleep mode) and sitting on end on the floor.

"You stayed up all night?" the auburn eyed man asked the sleeping boy quietly, knowing he'd get no answer.

Instead, he moved over to check the laptop battery, found it was getting low but hadn't yet run out, so turned it off and plugged it in to recharge. Done with that, he examined the rest of the room, seeing how a few of the cookies had been eaten, and the juice glass was empty. Then he noticed a slip of paper on his desk and went to see what it was. As much as he hated to admit he was worried about being scolded again, he still knew he had to read it, since it would give him clues to be able to actually talk with his younger companion again.

_Izaya, it's relly late an I'm tried, so this wil probbly not be seplled right...Frist, the expolsion at Nebule...and the missing bodys...a thrid party took the experments..._

The first part, once he puzzled through all the mistakes, he had to gape at, since it seemed the blue eyed boy had reached a leap of logic he hadn't yet, and that was _without_ all the information. The written note went on, however, so he kept reading.

_Also, srry for beign so mad, and tanks for leving the food and drink and blankt...But! We ahve to talk. Jst don't wake me uptop early..._ (3)

The front door opened as Izaya chuckled, and set the note beside his computer before turning around to collect the empty glass and the cookie package.

"Why's the brat on the couch?" Namie asked darkly as she set her things at her desk and turned her computer on.

"Oh...I made him angry last night, and apparently, he spent the whole night awake and on the computer," he replied in amusement. "Before you start, do me a favor and call Kishitani Shingen and tell him I want to meet with him—and it isn't optional. If he doesn't arrange a time and place himself, I'll go to him, and he won't like it if I do something like that."

She stared for a minute, then sat and made the call as her boss took the empty glass and cookies back to the kitchen. When he returned to his desk, he sat down and immediately began looking into new angles regarding the case, and his attention was wholly on his work in no time. He suspected Mikado wouldn't wake up for a very long time, but when the boy still hadn't woken by noon—Namie threw a pen at his head when he didn't reply to her 'meal's ready' call—Izaya realized he'd have to get him up.

For all he liked to tease Mikado, the auburn eyed man was beginning to realize he had to start placing at least a very few limits on his own desires to test the boy, since he didn't like being ignored and told off, either. Actually, he liked it even less than he'd been expecting, and he really hadn't expected the 'normal' Mikado to react so strongly or for so long. As such, he'd have to find out where his limit with his younger partner was so he wouldn't have to cross a line like that again, but still have fun testing and teasing the boy. Either way, he had to wake the black haired boy, even if it meant risking his wrath again—the hospital would have issues if he didn't turn up.

Shaking the smaller's shoulder, Izaya told him, "You have to get up and get ready to go see the doctor at the hospital."

"Hmm...?" Mikado murmured sleepily as he woke a little. "Oh...yeah...Time?"

"It's around noon," the man replied oddly gently, then rose to get lunch.

A hand caught his wrist as he was about to step away, and Mikado said, "You're going to force us apart if you can't be more honest with me about what you're doing and why. That's a fact I can't ignore anymore, so please...tell me the whole truth."

When the hand let him go, the man stood still in shock for a moment, then fled to the kitchen, not wanting to face what the boy was saying.

**Notes:**

(1) The same note about the Indigo Children applies here...Times have changed and things are being censored, so I don't know if this is the same data which will be found today as it was back when I first wrote this.

(2) Tsukumoya Shinichi is a character never met in person in DRRR!, leaving his actual identity a blank. In the light novels, he communicated more than once with Izaya, and Izaya has a tendency to allocate him as some sort of online AI. While that's possible, Tsukumoya Shinichi comes across as too human to me in how he presents things, so my take on it is that he's just a very skilled hacker with a lot of free time on his hands (he's probably what the Japanese call a shut-in)—and he probably knows about and uses the spyware in everyone's cell phones and computers and tablets and so on to his advantage.

Yes, EVERY digital device we have in our homes and possessions has either miniature video and/or audio recording devices in them, and/or some sort of location tracker, and/or the ability for someone on wireless to hack in and turn on and off the device's audio and video functions. This has even been in newsmedia a few times due to scandals involving someone hacking people's cell phones for the recordings of old data which shouldn't even have been there. As such, this fact would very easily suit—and explain—Tsukumoya's depth and breadth of knowledge.

(3) Intentional misspellings based on actual spelling errors I've made before, either due to exhaustion or just because it was a typo (I also have minor dyslexia and often reverse letters if I'm not paying attention or editing things properly). If anyone couldn't puzzle it out, feel free to PM me for a properly-spelled translation.


	8. 08-Testing Trust

Testing Trust

By the time the boy was 'home' from the hospital—a task made difficult because of the bandages around his neck (_of course_ the doctors would worry about that, and the man should also have had the sense to realize it, if nothing else)—he was ready to sleep again, but Izaya put a hand on his shoulder and directed him to the couch. Namie had gone out, so they had a bit of time to talk, and it was probably true they wouldn't get to it later if they kept putting it off. The big question Mikado had was the direction the discussion would take, especially if the auburn eyed man took the initiative.

"Now," Izaya began, eyes sharp and gaze steady. "I have to say I wasn't expecting you to be able to stay so angry for so long, but to have you threatening to break up—"

"It's not a threat," Mikado cut him off, still tired and irritable because of it. "As long as you won't trust me, this can't keep working. Don't tell me you _do_ trust me, either, because you'd be talking with me about what you're doing and what you want and need from me if you did. If you expect me to be able to keep my trust in you, you're going to have to start returning the favor. I know, you like to 'play', you like to 'test', but with your significant other, that's a deterrent, not something _anyone_ could just keep accepting. I even don't mind participating in some 'games', but not when you put me in a situation where my soul could be destroyed and I don't even have any damned clue what's going on or why! Do you understand how much danger you put me in? At all?" By the time he ran out of steam, the boy was glaring at the man across from him, furious blue meeting surprised auburn.

"...What do you mean, your soul was in danger?" the information dealer asked with a surprisingly terse expression. "As far as I knew, I was just trying to open up some of your abilities, maybe stabilize your cold self, and none of that should have put you in danger."

Making an exasperated noise, Mikado replied, "Which is why you have to start _talking_ with me about these things. No, what you did caused my soul to leave my body to go on some kind of astral journey, where I was in the 'astral' form but moving around the 'physical' world. I visited Celty, and she told me what was actually happening—apparently, she can see spirits, but at first, she thought I was a ghost. If I hadn't thought of going to see her once I realized I wasn't in the netherworld, I probably wouldn't have been able to find my way back, not for a very long time. The fact of the matter is that while I'm in that form, any spirit or psychic could do me serious harm, even destroy me, just because I happen to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, and I have no clue how to protect myself. I never even had any chance to do any research before you did that to me _because_ you didn't tell me. Also, stop using blood seals on me, because you could cause me a whole lot more harm than good if something damages or manipulates the seal."

"You'd never agree if I told you, being as cautious as you are," the man somehow managed to scowl and smirk at the same time, arms crossed over his chest.

"I'm drawn to the supernatural, so actually, I probably _would_ have agreed, but in a more controlled environment so we could _see_ what effect it would have," the boy promptly retorted. "See, you don't trust me, but you expect me to trust you."

"I'm on the path to—"

"What good is a deity no one trusts? They can't come to love you if they don't trust you, and if even your own chosen 'other' doesn't trust you, _can't_ trust you because you won't trust them, what makes you think anyone _else_ will ever trust or love you?"

For once, Orihara Izaya found himself completely and utterly stumped. He had no words to respond with, and was still busy trying to assimilate the boy's words more than five minutes later, when the door opened and Namie walked in.

She paused to stare at them for a minute, saw how they seemed to be frozen in a staring match, then announced, "He'll meet with you in three days, here, but he wants it to be a private meeting."

"In other words, I can't keep my secretary or my Queen with me," the man replied, gaze still on Mikado. "Very well."

"Are you sure you should keep calling him your 'Queen'? It's creepy," the woman glared at the two.

"That's probably why he does it," Mikado replied, also without looking away from the older man.

"Now _that_ depends entirely on whose perspective you're talking about," Izaya replied with a faint smirk. "I'm sure it doesn't bother Mikado, and it sure doesn't bother Shiki, so it's only people like Kida and you, Namie, who it bothers. And yes, I do it because it bothers you. Partly."

She glared at him and asked, "Then what's the other part?"

"Because our relationship isn't 'typical'," the boy replied. "And even if it's a little embarrassing, I don't mind."

They still hadn't diverted their gazes, so the woman said, "I neither know nor _care_ how long you've been like that, but if you don't resolve your staring match soon, you're going to miss your next appointment, so hurry up. I don't feel like trying to explain to a client how important a staring match is."

Suddenly, both of them started laughing, looking away at the same moment because of it. The feeling had been broken by a third party, so both of them were able to maintain a degree of equality while giving themselves and each other time to think about what had happened. The woman just glared at them in confusion until they calmed down, then Mikado went to take a nap while Izaya got ready to meet his client and gave Namie some instructions for work to get done, all of it things which wouldn't normally be up to her to do.

Izaya & Mikado

Late that evening, the man walked into his bedroom—only to see Mikado awake and on the laptop he'd borrowed from the main room several hours ago. "You're _not_ spending the whole night awake again," he told the boy.

"Huh?" the blue eyed boy asked in surprise, looking up from what he was reading. "Oh, I wasn't planning on it. I just wanted to finish reading this site."

"Why? What's it about?" Izaya asked.

"Some data about how to navigate in spirit form and to protect myself while in that form. I wish I'd known all this when we had to fight the Midnight Man—it would have made things a lot easier, and I could have returned to my own body," the younger of the pair replied in mild, wry amusement.

The information dealer stood there for a minute, arms crossed, then smirked, "You need over six hours to read the data?"

"It's in English, so I can't 'just read' it," Mikado replied, making a face. "I have to use a dictionary to look up some words, and I have to read slowly to make sure I understand. I mean, I'm taking English in school, but this is _way_ more complicated than anything we learn in class, and it uses a lot of uncommon terms and words, so..."

Blinking, the man moved over to look at the screen, then sighed and said, "Unfortunately, I can't help you with that—I know only a little English, since my other language wound up being Russian. How much more do you have to read?"

"Um...about another page," the boy replied. "I've gone through about twelve already, and this really is useful stuff, especially since it's likely I'll wind up outside my body again because of the marks you cut into my skin. This helped me direct, control, and stabilize the flow the mark created, anyway, and it made a big difference to how irritable and tired I've been. When you did this one, you didn't realize it needed a border to 'close' it, so I was gushing energy and had to close the channel manually."

The words actually surprised the man somewhat as he asked, "What do you mean, it needed a border to 'close' it? Wasn't that what the star was?"

Sighing, the boy replied, "You needed a _circle_ around it, Izaya. A _circle_. You know, like how the onmyouji 'holy barrier' looks in all the mangas, animes, and movies? It doesn't even have to go around a star—it has to go around virtually _any_ magical mark in order to 'close' it so the energy doesn't flow out. If there's no circle to close the energy flow and keep it inside, it hasn't been done right."

After a long silence, Izaya sat down at his hip and said, "Finish reading, then explain all this to me, and why it's important."

"First, did you _really_ not mean for me to do anything with those powers you were unlocking?" Mikado asked shrewdly, sapphire gaze meeting auburn steadily.

Feeling rather put out, the older man looked away, then gave a little smirk and said, "I was hoping it would give you a means to track the attackers and the entity following you around. Since there are several forms such a thing could take, I would have pushed you to try finding some things, but...Then you went and left your body instead." He then paused and asked thoughtfully, "Could you have been 'predisposed' to leaving your body because of how many times you left it during the Midnight Man incident?"

"Maybe," the black haired boy replied, going back to his reading. Since he was familiar with most of the words by then, it went faster and he only had to look up a few, but it still took him half an hour to finish one page, and the text wasn't small, either.

As he sat back, the information dealer asked, "Done?"

"Yes," Mikado agreed, shutting off the laptop and setting it aside. "I have to tell you this, but for anything I can learn from this, there's still a lot of danger to me leaving my body for the simple fact that whatever is following me is akin to a God."

"How do you know that?" the man asked with a frown.

"It's called 'electrokinesis', or the ability to manipulate electricity in any form. Most of the forces which can do it to the degree of destroying the hospital are mythological Gods—beings with power greater than the Midnight Man's, and with no obvious weaknesses," the blue eyed boy replied, shifting to lay down in the bed. "Well, the Midnight Man's wasn't exactly 'obvious', but...most of what it would take just to stop it from its current objective is so specific—like the legendary blades—that we'd never be able to get our hands on them."

"Like Murasame, Masamune, or even Saika?" Izaya asked curiously. He'd found out about electrokinesis, and that it took a great deal of spiritual power to use it, but he was honestly shocked Mikado had made another leap of logic like that pretty much overnight, and it was becoming unnerving. There was no way he'd show it, but it really felt like he was losing all his control, and he didn't like the feeling.

"Yes, but with one very big downfall," Mikado replied.

After a pause, the man blinked and said, "Based on mythology, each legendary blade only worked on one demon, spirit, or deity, but not on any other, other than as a short-term, temporary shield. We'd have to know which being we're dealing with, then find out which blade was made to bring it to a standstill, then try to _find_ the blade and retrieve it. As of now, we have no idea _what_ the being is, let alone _who_ it is, so until we know, we can't do anything about it, regardless."

"There's other ways, too, but they're just as dangerous, and they also basically require at least the knowledge of what _kind_ of being it is," the younger of them added. "And that's besides the fact that two thirds or more of the beings out there have no 'blade' made to seal or defeat them, anyway."

"So...where have you been getting all these leaps of logic from?" Izaya asked in a carefully curious, smirking tone, leaning back as though lounging.

For a moment, there was silence.

"You forced me from my body, so I went traveling, quite accidentally. I learned some interesting things by doing so."

Looking up at the younger man sharply, the older carefully assessed the words, then asked, "How would you have learned about the third party in the zombie attack? How would you have associated some kind of demon, spirit, or deity to your follower by going traveling?"

"I found out very quickly that I could go to specific places by thinking about them. I'm in no hurry to do so again right away, though," the boy told him. "Now, I'm going to bed, so—"

A moment later, he found the information dealer hovering above him, hands to either side of his shoulders and knees to either side of his hips. Lips on his made him moan softly in spite of himself, even as the other's tongue probed his mouth deeply—and the sensation was enhanced as Izaya ground his hips against Mikado's. He had to groan at that and push back, increasing the friction between them. A burst of surprise at the man's answering groan was all he had time for before the auburn eyed man began to draw back—

And instinctively, the boy's hands reached up to pull him back.

When he felt a smirk against his lips, Mikado turned very hot, and heard a chuckle as they ended the second kiss, before the man asked quietly, "What happened to not giving me an inch or I'd take a mile?"

"I..." Mikado began, but didn't know how to finish, so Izaya chuckled again and captured his lips for the third time. That time, when the older man broke the kiss, the boy whispered, "I want to trust you. Prove to me I can."

After a pause, the information dealer sighed and relaxed on the younger's body, saying softly, "You drive a hard bargain, you know that?"

Not long after, they had fallen asleep together.

Mikado & Izaya

The next three days were surprisingly calm, other than one appearance of the cold bubble, but all it did was 'watch' for awhile before vanishing. On the second day, he removed the bandages before going to the hospital, and as a result, the visit was both nicer and went faster. After the time of quiet, he felt well enough to go out for awhile while Izaya was meeting with someone he assumed was a client who wanted a private meeting. For a few minutes after the man in the lab coat and gas mask went into the office, the boy sat on the front step of the building, trying to figure out where he was going to go and what he was going to do.

"Nii-san (1)!" a familiar voice called happily, making him look up in mild surprise—to see Akane and Shiki nearby, the girl using crutches to walk, or hobble, fairly quickly towards him. Shiki looked amused and wan at the same time as he followed watchfully after his Young Miss.

"Hello, Akane. What brings you to Shinjuku? You live in Ikebukuro, don't you?" Mikado asked curiously as she got closer.

When she was beside him, she sat down, then said, "Uncle Shiki said he had to meet the other man, the one in the fur coat, and I asked if you'd be with him. When he said 'probably', I made him bring me, too."

"Why are you sitting out here, Mikado?" Shiki asked with a raised brow.

"Izaya's in a meeting with a client who insisted it be private—even Yagiri-san was given the day off, since she wasn't allowed to stay, either," the boy replied. "I'm just trying to decide what I want to do for the afternoon."

"Good. Problem solved. As of now, you're babysitting the Young Miss for me, since I certainly won't be able to take her into a meeting regarding our _recent topic_," the man replied with a smirk, even as the girl's jaw dropped.

Mikado blinked at him, assessing the words, then asked, "Um...even if you say that, what are we going to do, and about turning her back over to you?"

"I assume the dealer was going to call you when his meeting was done, so just head back here when you get the call. I'll wait. In the meantime, take her to do things normal kids would do." At that, Shiki pulled some cash in a roll out of his pocket and held it out to the boy, who took it tentatively. "Use that for Miss Akane. Whatever's left is your pay, so don't let her ask you for too much. Normally, she's a very good little girl, though, so she shouldn't use it all up." He then gave a wave and walked away, making the boy sigh tiredly and drop his head onto his knees.

"Do you...not want to take care of me?" Akane asked, sounding hurt.

Tipping his head to the side to look at her, he gave a wry grin and said, "No, it's not that—I don't mind _you_ at all. What I mind is Shiki giving me no warning whatsoever and very little idea of what to do—not to mention, I'm sure their meeting is going to be rather...disturbing if he walks in on the one already going on."

"Oh," the girl replied, cheering up.

"Hey, Ryuugamine!" a familiar voice called from across the street.

Looking towards the speaker, Mikado and Akane saw Kadota Kyouhei and his gang there, even as Karisawa Erika and Yumasaki Walker tried to shove something big, like a life-size doll, into the back of the van and Togusa Saburou yelled from the driver's seat for them to 'be careful with that thing'. Meanwhile, Kadota was just ignoring them, hand raised to the black haired boy and the younger girl across the street. Mikado waved to him, so when there was a break in the traffic—or rather, when it came to a standstill—he crossed the street and sat down to Mikado's free side.

"What are you doing in Shinjuku, Kadota?" the blue eyed boy asked curiously.

"I could ask the same thing of you," the other man asked dryly.

"Er..." the boy began, turning red. Slowly, he admitted, "My boyfriend lives here. He just had a private meeting, so I had to leave for awhile."

"Your...?" the older man blinked in surprise, then chuckled and said, "I think I get it, just don't let Erika hear how close you two have gotten or she'll never let you hear the end of it. On our side, those two _insisted_ they come here to get that thing they're trying to shove in the back of the van—this shop is the only place which will sell it, supposedly. As such, we decided to make an event of it. Who's the youngster, exactly?"

"Awakusu Akane," Mikado replied. "Apparently, I'm now her babysitter."

"Um, nice to meet you, Mr. Kadota," the girl said quietly, not sure the other man should have been told her last name.

"Awakusu...?" Kadota began in surprise, then laughed. "Well, that explains why Awakusu-kai was helping us when the hospital was destroyed, anyway." His eyes then went to the girl as he asked, "Do you already have plans for the afternoon? Also, it's just 'Kadota'."

"No...We were trying to figure it out when you called," she admitted, surprised by his reaction. "Um...aren't you worried about Awakusu-kai?"

"Why?" he asked curiously. "We aren't exactly normal, up-standing citizens, either, you know. We can protect ourselves just fine, so generally, as long as Dollars doesn't step on their toes, Awakusu-kai won't step on ours, either." His gaze went back to Mikado as Akane gaped at him, and he said, "What puzzles me is _you_, Mikado—what _are_ you to Dollars, and to Awakusu-kai?"

The boy just groaned, so Akane 'helpfully' said, "His screen name is Tanaka Tarou, I think. That's what the man in the fur coat called him, too."

A long silence fell as Kadota went cross-eyed for a minute, then reached over to rest a hand on the very tense teen's shoulder. "Is that true, Mikado?"

After another long silence, Mikado sighed and sat up to say, "Yes, I'm Tanaka Tarou, and yes, that's my screen name in Dollars." He met the older's shocked gaze and asked, "Can you still believe in Tanaka Tarou, knowing this?"

The silence was fairly short before Kadota grinned and reached out to ruffle his hair as he said, "I prefer you to Izaya, anyway. I take it you'd rather people don't know, Boss?"

With another groan, he replied, "If you start calling me 'Boss', the whole city will know in less than a day."

"Okay. And what are you to Awakusu-kai if they'll let you take care of Akane? Or do they not know your rank?" the gangster asked.

"They know it—they knew it some time ago. But, I saved Akane's life at the hospital, so...I guess I was sort-of adopted or something?" Mikado sighed. "Did you have an idea for something we can do?"

"You can join us to hit some shops, go do a bit of karaoke, and stop for supper. We have several places we need to go, from a few art shops to a couple bookstores, and even a mechanics shop," Kadota invited.

"Art shops?" the younger girl asked eagerly, perking up.

"Yeah, both Erika and Walker draw doujinshis, so they need to restock their supplies every now and then," he explained.

"Can we, Nii-san?" Akane asked eagerly. "I want to be a painter, so I practice hard, and I want to see a real shop instead of letting my parents just bring me things they think I want!"

With a little grin, Mikado agreed, "All right, that's fine—as long as you know you probably won't understand half of what Erika and Walker say."

"Yay!" she cheered, giving him a hug, then pushing herself up and getting her crutches under her. Kadota, very amused by the whole scenario, rose with her, and Mikado joined them shortly.

Almost as soon as the whole group had piled into the van and they were on their way, Akane and the two otakus were actually quite enjoying a discussion, particularly since the girl recognized some of the things Erika and Walker were talking about. The other three young men just grinned in amusement and let them talk.

**Notes:**

(1) Nii-san is a shortened and more familiar form of Onii-chan, normally used in reference to an older male a child is familiar with, rather than a generalized term. Akane has switched to this address because she now knows Mikado. There are also other variants on this which would be less formal if she was very close to Mikado, rather than him being essentially a 'friendly acquaintance'.


	9. 09-Puzzle Pieces

Puzzle Pieces

The afternoon turned out to be a lot of fun, and Erika and Walker actually did more to take care of Akane than Mikado did, both in terms of general 'fun' and in terms of helping her with the art supplies she wanted. Being a young kid, she knew more about animes, mangas, and light novels than the other three men in the van, so the otakus also enjoyed themselves, especially when they found she could sing along with the opening themes of the first in karaoke. When Mikado finally got the call saying he could head back with Akane, everyone had pretty much exhausted themselves.

When the van pulled up outside the building, Shiki was waiting, and Mikado stepped out first, then helped Akane down as she said her goodbyes to the older group in the van. She then joined the man in the white suit, who nodded and thanked Mikado, then led her away to his car so they could head home. He was about to turn back to the van crew when something he wasn't expecting happened.

A hand on the back of his now-bare neck pulled the back of his shirt down as black haired Erika asked, "So what's with the seal?"

He whipped around to stare at her in shock, one hand going to the back of his neck to cover the mark, even as Kadota leaned out the van window to ask in surprise, "What are you talking about, Erika?"

"Oh, Mikado's got a blood seal cut into the back of his neck, that's all. It looks more like something for an 'effect' instead of something dangerous, though," pale haired Walker replied. "It's right out of a manga, so we thought it was better not to say anything while Akane was here, just in case we attracted a demon or something by talking about it."

"Yeah, yeah, I mean, it would be awesome if one came, but not while a little kid is in the way and could get hurt!" Erika agreed eagerly.

"Too true!" Walker almost chirped. "So, are any demons going to come, Mikado?"

"Didn't you two learn _anything_ from the incident with the Midnight Man?" Mikado asked in exasperated frustration—only to stare as all four pairs of eyes went dark with worry or anger.

"So...what's going on, then?" brown haired Saburou asked quietly, gaze intent on Mikado's.

For a long time, there was silence, then Kadota said, "Tanaka Tarou, now that we know you're our Boss, we're going to help you when you're in trouble, and _that_ looks like trouble. I just hope it wasn't Izaya who did it to you."

"What!?" both Erika and Walker stared as Saburou's eyes went to Kadota in shock. A moment later, Erika was asking eagerly, "Is it true, you're the Dollars admin, the big boss who—"

"Erika!" Mikado yelped, and she fell silent as all eyes went back to him. After rubbing his eyes tiredly, he said, "Let's not talk about this where anyone can hear."

"In the van, then," Erika said immediately, then grabbed Mikado's arm and pulled him, making him yelp (again). A moment later, he was in the back seat of the van with the two otakus to either side of him, and Kadota and Saburou had turned to face him. "So, so?" she asked eagerly.

There was a pause, then Mikado looked at them and said, "Yes, I'm Tanaka Tarou. Yes, Izaya put it on me, but he forgot part of it. And so you know, it isn't actually 'dangerous' for me to have this particular mark—what's dangerous is what might happen if I use the ability it gives me. Instead of it just making me courageous or opening up any supernatural powers I may have, this one being combined actually allows my spirit to leave my body and travel around the physical world in what's called 'astral form', an ability known as astral projection. Basically, by it making me courageous, I lost the 'fear of falling', which is usually what keeps people's souls from leaving their bodies, so...mine went. That's all it does."

Erika and Walker traded looks, then Walker asked, "So what's dangerous about you leaving your body and traveling around if it's right here in the physical world?"

"Wait, wait! Isn't that because the spirit is weak to attacks by psychics and other spirits? You have to know how to protect yourself, and it's different in a spirit form than a physical one, so 'leaving' gets dangerous if you don't know how! Right?" Erika asked Mikado eagerly.

Before he could answer, Walker said, "That's right, there's that, just like in—"

"Don't start, you two! This isn't one of your mangas or light novels!" Kadota glared at them.

"Sure it is! All life is just one big, really complicated manga story, otherwise you just have to face reality, which is either too boring or painful for reality!" Erika replied cheerfully in amusement.

Holding a hand to his suddenly aching head, the teenaged boy sighed deeply and said, "After some kind of being using electrokinesis destroyed the hospital, we really may as well be living in one of their mangas, Kadota."

A long, surprised silence fell, then Kadota asked quietly, "Does this have something to do with how you fell down the stairs at school that day?"

Nodding, the boy said, "I'd been noticing a bubble of standing chill appearing in places where I was, but that time, when I hit the 'bubble', I didn't just feel a chill, I literally got electrocuted, so wound up falling down the stairs. When I was at the hospital, I was suddenly assaulted by the chill—and it was coating the whole hospital. Not just that, but the main power supply blew out, all the devices running on electricity began blowing up, and Izaya found out that even the backup generators were blown up by an electrical surge. As he said, nothing _natural_ did that. The power to manipulate electricity is—"

"Electrokinesis, a really rare skill very, very few have, and even fewer could use it to destroy a whole hospital," Walker finished for Mikado. "Which leaves you a need to find out who, or what, did it and a way to stop them."

"Isn't it weird that it's following Mikado, though?" Erika asked curiously. "Oh, wait, maybe it's not just—there's other incidences like that, too, just not with a setting as public as a hospital!"

"Yeah, now that I'm thinki—" Walker began.

"Other incidences?" the blue eyed boy asked in surprise. "What do you mean?"

A silence fell, then Walker said, "A lot of it's Underground talk, so stuff you'd never hear and it doesn't show up online much, if ever. There's a power outage at a sweat shop which killed several of the workers, another gang in the city got their hideout torched by an electrical short-circuit which blew out their power generator, and on the main highway leading into Saitama, the electrical power surged, putting out all the lights on a stretch of highway where they have crossing streets."

"And those are just the _big_ ones!" Erika added. "There's been _dozens_ of smaller ones, like with two gangs about to start a fight in a factory, and the power surged and went out, so they called the fight off, or a yakuza base lost power for half an hour, but no one was hurt. Those kind were too small for any great notice, but there's been way more of them than normal, so it's getting a bit strange."

Pursing his lips so they formed a fine line, the boy pondered the implications of the words, then said, "When my spirit first left my body, when I tried to get back to it, I instead hit some kind of bubble. Inside it was pure white, but I could faintly see some kind of being, and it shot an arrow somewhere, but I couldn't see the destination. I know it saw me, but I have no idea if it'll try to come after me, and all I know is that it looked vaguely human."

"Hmm...that's a difficult one..." Walker commented.

"You know, it might have been Hachiman," Erika said thoughtfully. "He's not used much in animes and mangas, but when I accidentally found my way to him when looking up other Gods, like Amaterasu, I thought it was a bit odd he wasn't—he's supposed to be really strong, and he's the patron deity of warriors. Well, of those who follow the proper training of one, like he's sort of a teacher, rather than a God of war? It seemed that way, and he's the only local God I can think of who would be shooting off arrows and stuff. We don't know a whole lot about what his abilities are, though, and I don't think there ever was something specific you could use to seal or kill him, since no one ever thought one was needed, just like with Amaterasu."

"Oh, yeah!" Walker agreed. "Though, I never would have thought he would try to hurt someone, so Mikado's probably okay with him. If it _was_ him."

"Yeah, if. We need more data! Leave it to us, okay Mikado?" Erika told her younger friend. "You can go back to whatever you were doing now!"

"Yeah, thanks, guys," Mikado told them gratefully, trying to make sure he remembered the name they'd given.

"What if it's not a local deity?" Saburou asked suddenly.

"That's why we need to do research!" Erika and Walker fairly chirped happily.

"I'll go, then," the blue eyed boy said, and slipped out of the van quickly, right over Walker's legs. He shut the door behind him as the two otakus put their heads together—

Only to stop as Kadota said, "Mikado, don't overdo it, and make sure to call us for help when you need it, okay?"

With a grateful wave, the boy replied, "Yeah, thanks Kadota." He then headed inside and up to the apartment. "Hachiman...How much can I even find out about him?" he muttered to himself as he went.

When he got back up to Izaya's apartment, the man glared at him as he leaned against the front edge of his desk and asked, "What took you so long to get up here?"

"Kadota called me back to ask me about my ties to Dollars," the boy replied easily, not willing to reveal any more than that to the older of the pair.

"...Why did he ask such a thing in the _first_ place?" the auburn eyed man asked, puzzled by how the other man had come to think something was off with the boy, as to the best of his knowledge, Mikado had been very careful not to reveal his orientation.

"Uh, that's actually Akane's fault for telling him my screen name, and yours for affirming it in front of her," the black haired boy replied, sighing.

Izaya had to hold a hand to his suddenly aching head as he smirked to hide his actual feelings. He then looked up with a larger smirk and said, "You see, if you were actually deity material, you never would have made such a mistake as not warning her to keep quiet. I sure wouldn't have, so I have a greater chance of reaching deity status than you ever will."

"Eeeeehhh?" Mikado asked with a faint smile. "Then how, pray tell, did I find out you were both Kanra and Nakura? If you had _never_ slipped up, where did I get that information from? Because it sure wasn't just a random guess. Also, it's not like _you_ warned her, either, and you were right there when she was listening—and you even _knew_ it."

Silence fell for a moment, then the man pushed off the edge of the desk and went to sit in the chair behind it, at his computer, beckoning the younger man fully into the room, even as he said, "I guess you want to know what happened in the meeting? Thanks _so much_ for just _letting_ Shiki come up here, by the way."

The blue eyed boy chuckled at the acid in the last sentence Izaya spoke, then asked, "Since when could I have _stopped_ him from coming up here, especially after he dropped Akane on me with no warning?"

"And to think, this is just the start now that you've gotten in Awakusu-kai's good books," the man smirked. "Yes, yes, I wouldn't actually _expect_ you to 'stop' him, but you never even _tried_, just said I was in a private meeting. To him, that alone means nothing, since anyone who works for Awakusu-kai is at their beck and call to them—we can't say 'no' when they make demands. Though, it actually gave me leverage against the man who came in as you were leaving, so it wasn't entirely bad, except for them initially trying to kill each other until I could get them both to behave."

"Who was the man, anyway?" Mikado asked.

"A researcher at Nebula, and the only one who owes me enough to actually give me real answers to work with," the auburn eyed man replied. "When he found out Awakusu-kai were the ones to suffer for their experiments, he decided he had to allow Shiki's presence, since he was directly involved in the incident. Nothing hit the news because Nebula's experiment had—and may still have—a government benefactor, of course one doing so illegally, but that's besides the point. Usually, even illegal experiments are done very carefully and orderly by Nebula employees, and they would never release their own experiments into the city to attack people, let alone yakuza who would retaliate.

"The government benefactor realized why he couldn't keep pushing them after seeing the results of the incident, so he's been pulling strings to keep it out of the media, which created a chain effect of fear to keep others who were witnesses quiet. What Nebula has determined about the ones who attacked them and took the experimental subjects is that it wasn't their benefactor or another local laboratory which did it, and they suspect it wasn't anyone like a yakuza or terrorist group, so that would leave what?"

After a pause while the boy assessed what he'd been told to date, he said, "It could have been a non-local lab, some other member of the government, a radical group which has nothing to do with terrorists, or possibly someone very wealthy for personal reasons. Or, it could have been something supernatural."

"No, in this case, it's entirely something natural and physical, but extremely dangerous. You covered the options well, and our job just got a lot harder because of it, so I may actively need you to astral travel to the place where they are, or we may not be able to find out anything further. Were you safe while you were out all day without me, My Queen?" Izaya was smirking in wicked amusement as he asked that.

Turning faintly red, Mikado replied, "I was fine—there wasn't even a cold bubble. Speaking of labs and stuff, though, I still feel like something else bad happened at the hospital when it was destroyed."

Pausing for a minute, the man met his gaze, then turned and picked something up off his desk to offer it to the boy, who took it in confusion. And the boy's eyes went wide as he read the paper, so Izaya said, "That would be the 'something wrong', since the first people who got there during the incident were Dollars, and they had no reason to kidnap anyone, nor did they notice anything unusual. Those were comatose patients who just up and vanished, and the only way they could have done so was by getting up and walking out of there on their own power, especially given the situation at the time. This begs the question of what happened to them, because they didn't 'wake up and go home', either. They would also have been useless to the experiment, assuming they were still comatose, since even a terminally ill patient has more capacity to move than a comatose one, and there's no mind or soul to influence in most comatose patients. Or so my Nebula contact says."

Mikado suddenly went cold as he dropped the paper. "Possession."

"...What?" the man asked with a frown at the younger.

"You know all those things I've been reading lately?" When Izaya nodded, lips pressed together in a fine line, the boy went on, "Comatose bodies are ideal for spirits to possess, since the body can't protect itself without a soul, and if the body is soulless, they don't have to fight for control over it. They also don't need to trick the person into letting them in. Basically, whatever force is following me around has servants, and used that incident to 'test' me as well as to kidnap those bodies for its servants to use."

Sitting back in his seat as the information dealer carefully assessed the new information, he realized the boy had every right to be pale and drawn. If he was right about what had happened to the missing comatose patients, either or both of them stood to meet those patients in unsavory locations. The big question was exactly what they needed to have physical bodies to do, and there were a lot of things he could think of which only something physical was capable of—physical pleasures like good food, alcohol, drugs, or sex were the _least_ of his worries where the spirits were involved.

"Ne, Mikado, did those sites of yours say anything about the most common reasons spirits would want to use a physical body?"

With a sigh, the boy's blue eyes slid closed as he said, "If it had been just one working independently, I could have thought it was for a chance to experience the physical world—spirits are known to do that at times. Because so many were possessing bodies all at once, though, it falls more under the category of intent to cause harm to a large number of people—like to start a war, they would possess the people of a particular group, go attack people of an opposing group, and voila, there's your war."

The man's lips pressed into a fine line as he rose and said, "There's some things I have to check on. You stay here—I'll bring a snack back with me."

A moment later, he was gone, so the boy sighed and began wandering absently around the apartment, wishing his boyfriend was a little less energetic—until he saw a glint of light _behind_ the books on a shelf just below his normal eye level. In curiosity, he moved over to pull the books out, then reached for the object—and stopped to stare, even before he'd touched it.

It was an inverted glass jar on a plastic base, both easily large enough to hold a person's head. And speaking of heads, there was a woman's inside it, one which looked suspiciously like Harima Mika's head above the scar line on her neck, and the space not taken by the head was filled with some kind of liquid. It felt surreal to look at the object, which was clearly in a pristine state, and it made his mind momentarily stop functioning—until he realized he'd just found Celty's head.

He felt a sudden headache coming on, so closed his eyes tiredly.

After a moment, he pulled out his cell phone and sent a text to Celty.

_[Hi Celty, sorry to bother you so late, but I just found your head. What do you want me to do with it?]_

While he waited for her reply, he put his cell back in his pocket and took the glass jar out of its hiding place to set it on Izaya's desk, then dropped into the man's own seat to stare at the head. Depending on Celty's answer, what should he do with Izaya after? Tell him nothing and pretend he hadn't found it? On second thought, it would be impossible for the boy to pretend he hadn't found it, so that option was out, and he just had to decide what to do with revealing he'd found it.

Right then, his cell phone buzzed to let him know he had a text message, so he pulled it out and saw it was from Celty, so opened it to read her reply.

_[Um, I really don't know. I don't know if getting it back will change who I am right now, and that's what I'm most scared of...so...]_

With a small sigh, the boy realized she wasn't going to be much help unless she made a secure decision, which meant she'd have to have a reason to do so.

_[Izaya has it in his office right now, and there's no way I'll be able to hide from him the fact that I found it. Celty, you can't just hum and haw, you have to decide what you want done with it, or I'm SURE he'll just make it disappear completely once he knows I found it.]_

It took her a long time to reply, almost half an hour, but when she did, her reply made him grin in amusement.

_[Can you find a package to put it in so Anri can pick it up and bring it here? Shinra and I will...work it out from there.]_

_[How close is Anri to Izaya's apartment?]_

_[She told me about ten minutes ago that she was near the border to Shinjuku, so she could head in that direction fairly quickly.]_

_[Will do, then. I'll meet Anri outside with it.]_

_[Thank you, Mikado.]_

It didn't take him long to find a box to put the head in, so he wrote a short note and added that to the box, basically just to encourage Celty, then took the box downstairs. As it turned out, he only had to wait for about five minutes for Anri to arrive.

"How are you feeling?" she asked as she approached.

"Not too bad, under the circumstances," he replied wryly. "Is Masaomi still feeling guilty about what happened to me?"

"Of course. When does he _not_?" she asked in faint amusement. "You had a package for me to take to Celty?"

"Yes. I'm sure it'll be safe with you, and you may have to actually give it to Shinra, but this is the package. She may tell you what's in it later on, if she hasn't already," Mikado said, offering the box he carried to her. "Just be a little careful because there's glass in it."

"Okay. I think I can guess what it is, anyway," she agreed, taking it. The girl then paused and asked, "Are you sure you should still stay with him?"

With a little shrug and wry grin, he replied, "He keeps me on my toes, anyway."

Slowly, she nodded, then gave him a little bow and walked away with the box, the boy watching her go until she vanished from view, then gazing skyward tiredly for a few moments.

As Mikado was about to go back inside, a familiar voice said, "I thought I told you to stay inside, Mikado."

Looking at Izaya, he said, "Go upstairs and look around. I'll wait here." With a puzzled frown, the man decided to humor him, so headed up to his apartment.

It was just as well that things would play out this way...Mikado wouldn't have to 'leave' because he was already outside anyway. He was also suddenly thankful he didn't have many personal possessions at the man's place at the time (his stay was temporary, after all), so there was nothing upstairs which he would miss if things went the way he thought they would.


	10. 10-In the Streets

In the Streets

At first, as he headed up to his apartment, Izaya was thoroughly puzzled by the boy's behavior—it was quite a bit different from when he'd left earlier. He could have said it bothered him, particularly since Mikado was apparently being cryptic at the moment, but being 'bothered' by something like that was too 'human' a reaction. As such, going along with the request was better for him, and he was also curious about it, so since 'curiosity' was more God-like, he'd go with that.

When he got upstairs, he didn't see anything out of place immediately—but only moments later, he froze as his lips pressed into a fine line. There were books on the floor in front of one shelf, and unless his memory had failed him, they were right in line with where he'd hidden Celty's head. Slowly, he walked over to the shelf and leaned down slightly to look into the space the books had been pulled from, and sure enough, there was no glass jar. A quick look around showed no sign of the jar, either, so what had the boy done with Celty's head?

No, he _knew_ what Mikado had done with it—given it back to Celty—hence the reason he had been outside.

His first emotional reaction was seething fury, and he pulled out his cell phone to send a message to Mikado, saying, _[Don't bother coming back here.]_ It was all he wrote, and proceeded to turn off all his computers, cell phones, and other 'communication' devices in his apartment, then even shut off all the lights. He didn't want to deal with any external distractions at the moment. Still seething, he went back to his desk and sat in his chair.

Really, he was _furious_ with the boy! How _dare_ he?

...

However, the longer he sat alone in the dark, the more the anger faded away and turned to something like pain, regret, and even loneliness. And none of it was actually directed at Mikado, other than as an abstract. Izaya was quite stymied over his feelings towards Mikado's actions, but he couldn't have expected anything different; it was just the way the boy was...He was genuinely someone who wanted to help others, especially friends—other than when his cold persona took over, and even then, it seemed it also leaned towards helping others, though who knew its reasoning?

Since the curtains were still open, he spun in his chair to face them, staring blankly out at the light of the city and the dark sky above. Normally, the view would be something to him—a distraction, an interest as he watched the people below, an inspiration—but this time, it was as though he couldn't see it at all. He may as well have been staring at the closed curtains for all the interest he showed in it right then.

What he most regretted was leaving the head someplace where the boy could potentially find it, but after over nine months, Mikado hadn't noticed it, so—Izaya hated to admit it—he'd gotten a little complacent. It was his own fault it had been found, since a whole lot more books would have been on the floor if the blue eyed boy had been 'searching' for it. More, he found himself becoming pained by his own reaction, and was already getting lonely without his younger companion's presence. Though this spurred on more frustration at his 'human' reactions—a deity wouldn't be worried over something as trivial as a romantic rift. Even his self from before the Midnight Man incident wouldn't have been…

To think he'd actually regret an action which caused someone harm! But then, he'd never been so close to someone as he was to Mikado. This was becoming problematic.

His eyes went to the faint outline of the door he could see due to the light in the hall outside his apartment, but there was no reaction from it and nothing changed. Of course, the one he wanted to see walk through the door wasn't going to, and he wasn't going to go back on his word so easily. Even he knew he had been overly rash, but looking indecisive was something he couldn't do—it was un-God-like, so he'd lose ground on his attempt to become a deity if he went back on his word now. Regardless of how Mikado reacted to the text message, which was probably with shock or sorrow—or both—he couldn't go back on it.

How _had_ the black haired boy reacted to the message?

A moment later, he sat straight up and began checking his cell phone and e-mail messages, smirking faintly as he realized a way he could bring them back together. That was, _if_ Mikado would accept his presence again...

Izaya & Mikado

Outside, Mikado wandered around absently, paying no attention to where he was going. When he'd gotten the text message from Izaya, he'd just meandered back towards the direction of Ikebukuro, since he knew there was no point in going upstairs or even texting back—the man was easily as angry as he'd thought he would be. More, even. He'd known there would be a good chance he'd be kicked out, and he basically had no chance by the fact that the auburn eyed man hadn't come back to talk with him, which was more disheartening than he had anticipated. Mikado didn't want Izaya angry with him…The fact that the man left him in favor of his solitude basically meant the information dealer was so furious he couldn't even face the boy without causing him extreme harm.

The situation didn't help Mikado's rapidly complicating life right now. The boy sighed and kept looking at his feet as he walked back towards his own residence, which was already appearing unwelcoming and uncomfortable in comparison to the spacious office apartment of his boyfriend…They were still together, weren't they? Was the message a double entendre?

A groan of frustration escaped the boy's lips. He couldn't even tell if he was being clever or over-analyzing things because he felt so emotionally drained! Lost in thought as he was, he had no idea what was going on around him—until he'd walked into a mess he couldn't even sort out at first.

Apparently, as he'd turned the corner, a small fist-fight had turned into something equivalent to a gang war riot, and the whole street in front of him was full of chaos as people screamed and ran, as others fought each other, and as still more tried to protect others. Some people started damaging buildings and cars, even benches and light posts, and the conflict started spreading into the crossing streets. It was so chaotic he couldn't tell who was involved or in what way.

Frankly, he was tempted to run, and took a step back—only to walk into a bubble of chilling cold. He froze as he realized his 'watcher' was there.

The moment turned out to be too long, as a large man suddenly swung around and punched him in the jaw, sending him sprawling some distance from where he'd been standing...and he felt his cold self take over.

Sitting up easily, he looked around with new interest, and found that a large, metal garbage bin outside a store was sitting untouched by the chaos. As such, he could use it to see above the commotion and decide what to do about it, since there was no way it was _normal_. It took him only a moment to get up there and crouch on the closed lid, and as soon as he was sure he was being ignored, he began actively scanning the battlefield, wondering what trends he could see. What he noticed right away was a great disparity in what was happening.

"What are you doing _here_, Mikado?" a familiar voice asked urgently in worry as another teenaged boy landed beside him on the lid.

"Trying to figure out what just happened, what's going on, and how to stop it," the boy replied dryly, glancing over at the bleached blond now at his side.

"But Mikado—"

"Masaomi, can you _really_ say you want this mess to keep going the way it is?" the black haired boy asked quietly, and his friend shut up.

The silence let Mikado assess what he was looking at. Two groups were fighting in the middle, some of whom he thought were familiar, and the people they were fighting were apparently from a local gang of some sort. The police had tried to stop the fight, only to fall under direct attack from the 'familiar' side of the fight, which had prompted a greater fight as the police fought back. He assumed the police had called for backup, as more officers were arriving as he was watching. Then there were some random fighters—who were _targeting_ people who _weren't_ fighting already, and some others who were causing the riot-like destruction, which had prompted others to do the same.

"Why aren't you at your boyfriend's place?" Masaomi suddenly asked as Mikado held a hand to his head tiredly.

"I got him mad at me, so he kicked me out," the blue eyed boy replied, then sat cross-legged where he was. "Keep anyone from getting close to me for a few minutes, all right? I have to try something, and I might not be able to dodge or protect myself."

"What would you protect yourself _with_?" the bleached blond asked in amusement.

"I'm carrying at least two daggers on me," the other teen replied dryly, and Masaomi looked like he'd been hit by a hammer. "Now, please be my shield for a bit, just in case someone notices us."

"Yeah," the other teen agreed, still sounding winded. "Better me than you, anyway."

With that, Mikado closed his eyes for a minute, thinking back to what one site had said about 'seeing' spirit presences. He was pretty sure his 'normal' self wouldn't be able to see them, but he had the additional benefit of being able to separate his soul from his body, and his spirit would be able to see them, no matter what. It was a little difficult to make his spirit lift out of his body, but he knew the sensation just enough to be able to overcome the sensation of 'falling' and vertigo to let his spirit stand up in the same space where his body sat.

Opening his eyes, he gazed out at the battlefield, now seeing a whole lot he hadn't seen before. In amongst the main fighters were two people with spirits not their own—a strange, distorted, white aura shone around them. As he scanned the rest of the area, he realized there were several others with distorted spirit auras attacking the police, targeting non-combatants, and even causing the riot destruction. In other words, those were all people possessed by spirits—the ones who had disappeared from the hospital?

Settling back into his body, he drew in a deep breath and sat up straight, rubbing his arms as he realized how cold he was. At least the cold didn't come from the bubble this time, it was just a side effect of sending his spirit from his body for awhile. Masaomi jumped off the garbage bin lid to attack a man who was heading in their direction—one of the possessed ones—so he pulled out his cell phone and went on the Dollars site to see what was going on.

Apparently, some Dollars had started the fight?

With a sigh, he typed in, _[While Dollars wasn't supposed to have a power structure, that doesn't give people the right to start fights for no reason, and the ones who actually threw the first punch weren't even members, just strangers using our name. What I need now, for anyone who's willing, is to have some people come in here and stop this fight before it turns into a literal riot in the streets—it's already spreading more than a simple fight _should_. Someone also has to help clear Dollars' name by—er—reprimanding—the ones who got into the fight. Can I count on your help here?]_

Almost right away, two responses he got back were from Setton and MONTA:

_[I'll head over to help get things under control.]_

_[Don't worry, Tanaka Tarou, we'll head over and do some disciplinary action for you. By the way...I hope you're not in danger if you're caught in the fighting?]_

He had to grin wryly at the second one, thinking it _had_ to be Kadota, so he sent back, _[So far, I'm okay—I have a guard of sorts. Our big problem will be bringing this to a halt before the police get their riot suits on, since those same false Dollars started a fight with the cops, too. We need to stop this and get non-combatants out of the way, so your help will be appreciated, Setton, MONTA.]_

After a short pause, MONTA replied, _[Gotcha. All mine are heading over, and we'll have it taken care of as fast as possible. Because the police are involved, we'll just knock everyone out. We'll be there shortly.]_

Mikado thanked them, then looked up and gave Masaomi a nod as the blond joined him on the lid again. The other man lay on the ground, unmoving, so he asked, "Did you just knock him out or...?"

"Obviously, I just knocked him out," Masaomi glared at his friend, expression a cross between annoyance and a 'duh, obviously' look.

"Good," the black haired teen grinned and nodded. "Now we just need to wait for Dollars to get here and help out—the ones who started this mess need to be reprimanded, anyway."

The bleached blond snorted and said, "As long as they can get here before this gets worse. I caught sight of a few fires on the far side of the battle zone, and if firefighters can't get in here to put it out, we're all screwed and half the city is going to burn down. At least it's Ikebukuro, so Dollars are near at hand."

"Don't forget about us, either," a new voice commented dryly from beside the garbage bin. Looking down, the two teens saw several members of Awakusu-kai, including Akabayashi, Shiki, who had spoken, and—Aozaki, who had already led several of the yakuza members into the fight.

"What're yakuza doing here?" Masaomi glared at them. "How many people are _you_ going to kill?"

"Now, now, we already had instruction from young Mikado, so we'll follow the same terms he already gave," Akabayashi commented in mild amusement.

"Why are you helping _this_ time, though?" the black haired boy asked in confusion. "I get the hospital, since your 'Young Miss' was there, but she's not here this time, and I'd be surprised if any others of your members were caught in this."

With an amuse grin, Akabayashi joined the fight, even as Shiki snorted and said, "Izaya told you already—the guards outside your hospital room were as much for _you_ as they were for Miss Akane. When we decide we like someone, we help them, and since you were caught in this chaos, we decided to help out. The Dollars should be coming up from the far side right about now. Anyway..." The man in the white suit looked up at him and asked bluntly, "What happened between you and Izaya which would cause you to be out here at this time of night, White Queen?"

"_What_ did you just call him?" Masaomi glared at the yakuza man.

"I found something Izaya didn't want found, and he threw me out," Mikado replied with a sigh, looking back out at the fight. Kadota was working his way into the mess from the far end of the street, a fact he only knew because Erika launched herself into the fighting from the top of their minivan. Shortly thereafter, a dark shadow began spreading under the battle zone, making the fighters' movements sluggish.

Then, the boy's eyes found a lone, well-dressed man walking through the chaos, completely untouched by _everyone_, and he found that extremely odd, especially since he was heading in the direction of the police. More, he was apparently impervious to Celty's shadows—not that they weren't grabbing him, they couldn't even _approach_ him, and he was fairly walking in a bubble of light surrounded by shadows. His expression, on the other hand, was decidedly unkind, even malicious.

"What the—?" Mikado murmured with a frown, suddenly feeling like he couldn't just let the man do whatever he wanted. He jumped down off the garbage bin and shot into the crowd on a path to intercept with the man.

"Mikado, wait!" Masaomi called in alarm from behind him, but he kept going, anyway—he somehow knew he didn't have time to 'wait'.

As someone was about to attack him from the side, however, Shiki struck the man in the neck and said, "Keep going—I'll watch your back."

The boy hesitated for only a moment, then nodded and kept heading on his path, somehow knowing Shiki was as good as his word, and that Masaomi wouldn't be far behind the yakuza man.

When he got to the place where his path would cross with the well-dressed man's, he was just in time to see the man kneeling over one injured police officer as he said, "This city belongs to Dollars now." In the man's hand was a dagger, which he raised while a second injured officer kneeling nearby watched in horror.

Without pausing to think, the boy jumped at the man, drawing one of his own daggers from his pocket as he slashed—and the man threw himself back with a gasp of pain. Now, Mikado knelt at the officer's side as the well-dressed man crouched a few feet away, his arm cut open and the dagger held at the ready for a fight.

"You're not a member of Dollars," Mikado announced loudly and calmly, rising from his kneeling position.

"Prove it," the man dared him.

"Log in to our site on-line. You _should_ be able to if you're a member," the boy replied simply, his voice cold—and his lips forming a smirk as the man's eyes widened. "Oh, are you saying you didn't even _know_ we have a site on-line? What rock did _you_ crawl out from under?"

"You cocky little—" the man began, about to charge at him in an attack—only to freeze as another blade touched his neck.

"I wouldn't advise that, or you're going to bring the whole of Medai Group down on you," Shiki told the man in a tone like he was talking about the weather.

A long, shocked silence fell, then the well-dressed man slowly smiled and said, "So you're the one _he's_ so interested in."

"He who?" Mikado asked with a frown.

"Figure it out yourself," the man smirked—

And suddenly, cold and electricity assaulted the boy, along with everyone else nearby, as he groaned and held a hand to his head. Things began short circuiting or exploding, and most of the lights went out for a few moments, even as the battle kept going, though with more screams and panic than active battle. By the time the power came back on—though several signs nearby stayed unlit—the man was gone, and Kadota's gang had gotten hold of most of the fighting, so things were quieting down.

"We'll head out, then, and I'll talk with you later," Shiki said, then headed away from where Mikado stood. Awakusu-kai began pulling out soon after, leaving the rest for Dollars to punish. Some distance away, Masaomi finally ended the fight he was in, too.

"Boy—you're from Dollars, the ones who instigated the fighting?" the less damaged of the two officers asked him, so he turned to face them.

"No," he said simply, not actually stating which part of the question he was answering. Then again, he couldn't accurately answer it at all the way it had been phrased, so denying it first and explaining later if they gave him the opportunity was the better option. At their disgusted frowns—which was the opportunity he wanted—he informed them, "The ones who started both the original fight and the fight with you, along with the ones attacking non-combatants and damaging property, are all servants of the man who tried to kill you, who isn't a Dollars member, nor are his people. Dollars got dragged into it, and the ones who decided to act like idiots are being punished for their stupidity. For the rest of us, we were trying to get this chaos back under control before it turned into a very real riot."

"Prove it!" the officer glared, as he was about to pull out a set of cuffs.

"Boss, we've got the worst under control, but some of the fighters, the fake Dollars you noted, are just passing out instead of actually just not fighting any longer," Kadota's voice came from right behind him. "And before you ask, it was Dragon Zombie they started fights with, so our punishment of our own members has placated them."

"I thought I told you not to call me 'Boss'?" Mikado asked over his shoulder with a sigh, even as Celty also joined them, shadows withdrawn.

"Right now, my doing so is actually a great benefit," the older man answered dryly. "And besides, we had better clear out before the people from the hospital get here, since Nakura apparently knew there would be people who needed care or something."

"Nakura did?" the blue eyed boy asked in surprise as he turned to face the man.

"Yeah. Why?"

"No reason," Mikado replied quickly, then looked up at Celty and asked, "Can I ask a favor of you, Black Biker?"

[What favor is that?] she asked in return on her PDA, head (helmet) tipped to the side in curiosity.

"Can I stay with you at least overnight?"

[...Why do you need to?]

"I told you, I couldn't hide 'it' from him, and I wasn't going to _try_."

The woman paused for a moment, then typed and showed him her PDA, [I'm sorry for being the cause of your current situation. Come with me, and I'll let you know what rooms to stay out of once we get there.]

"Great, thanks," the boy smiled, and started to follow her away.

"Hey, you can't just walk away from the—" the officer began, taking a step in Mikado's direction.

An instant later, Kadota was between the boy and the cop, and his whole aura was so deadly even the blue eyed boy had to shudder. "Try and stop him with _me_ in the way," the Dollars member challenged.

Apparently, the police weren't willing to challenge him, so Mikado was able to walk away with Celty, Masaomi following them to where she had left her bike. It was only once he'd gotten on behind Celty on it that he left to finish whatever he'd been out there for in the first place. As they were heading for the Dullahan's apartment, he suddenly felt overwhelmed by a sense of loneliness and loss which made him sigh.

At least he could rest now...For awhile, anyway.


	11. 11-Complex Ties

**A/N:** Interesting trick: see how you feel after doing the same actions to yourself (cutting ties, grounding, and shielding) as Mikado does for himself in this chapter! You may well be very surprised by the results!

Complex Ties

As Mikado sat at the table in Celty and Shinra's apartment the next morning, he had to sigh, making Shinra look up at him in mild surprise and worry. Celty had already gone out on a delivery, and the boy had been shown which rooms he wasn't supposed to go in—and after the chaos of the night before, he'd fallen asleep quickly, so hadn't been able to think much. The thoughts he was now coming up with weren't very appealing or comforting, in more than one way.

Just to start, as of last night, while he knew a little more about the situation, he also knew an ill-meaning spirit had an interest in him, only he had no clue as to _why_ or which spirit it was. There was at least one physical man willingly helping 'him'—the well-dressed one—and many other spirits doing so. The electrokinetic powers the spirit used, along with those serving it, indicated it was a powerful one, but he still knew far too little about it or the situation. On the other hand, he now basically knew it was picking fights with him, maybe to see how he would react...?

The thought was a little terrifying, since it meant Izaya was actually on the right track to becoming a 'deity', in a way, but it also made him wonder about several other things. For example, had the fight-riot been _planned_ for when he would be there? How had the spirit, the 'him' the well-dressed man had mentioned, known he would be? And even more frighteningly, had said spirit...been the reason he'd found Celty's head and been kicked out? If so, the entire night had been very well orchestrated to have him out on the streets just in time for the mess to break into full swing, and that was a scary thought. It also implied Izaya was right and 'he' was reading Mikado's mind, as well as watching him closely enough to know how both he and Izaya would react to things. The situation gave new meaning to the term 'stalker'.

Now, though, he was left with no Izaya to talk it out with and an opponent with every advantage in this...what the spirit thought was probably a game. Only, people's lives and the very existence of Dollars hung in the balance, so could he really afford to lose? It was clear by what had happened the night before that the force was _trying_ to pit him against powerful biker gangs—Dragon Zombie—and even against the government, and it was only his unpredictability and Kadota's support which had saved all of Dollars from a literal war in the streets, something which would have been detrimental to Dollars' members on several levels if it had succeeded.

To make matters worse, Awakusu-kai was starting to scare him. Before then, he'd never really thought much about them, other than to use caution in dealing with them because they were yakuza, but now...They were entirely _too_ interested in him. The hospital made perfect sense, as far as he could tell, but getting him to babysit Akane and going out of their way to help him out last night? Izaya had also commented how 'he'd just _love_ the results' now that he'd gotten in their good books, but what _was_ he to them, and how far would they go? Let alone why they felt they had to do so...

"Something bothering you, Mikado?" the young man across from him asked curiously, breaking into his thoughts.

"Just...a lot of things, actually," the black haired boy sighed.

"One of them being Izaya, no doubt," Shinra said—and Mikado choked. The relationship he had with Izaya wasn't really a secret, but for Shinra to pick _that_ of everything he could have been thinking about was scary—even if Izaya had largely been a peripheral thought that morning, since it was too painful to think about directly. "I already knew, since even back when you two fought the Midnight Man, I knew he definitely wasn't behaving like normal. And since you took Celty's head away from him, well..."

"Yeah...he was so mad he just sent me a text to tell me not to bother going back. Basically, he couldn't even face me without causing me extreme harm, so he didn't come face me. I don't know what I should do...and that's only _one_ of the big problems I'm now caught in," Mikado explained.

"Eh...Well, you probably know it's pointless for you to try talking to him until he says something to you, first, but has he sent anyone _else_ to 'talk' to you or anything since last night?" the young doctor asked.

"No. The incident last night had nothing to do with him," the boy answered, his expression depressed. "I almost wish it did, though."

"No, you don't," Shinra told him dryly, getting the younger to look up in surprise. "If he sends someone to 'talk' to you, he pretty much wants you dead. The fact that he didn't send anyone means there's still a chance. What _did_ happen with the fight last night, by the way?"

"Did you know about the cold bubble that's been following me around lately, or about my being electrocuted by said bubble at school?"

"I'd heard about the latter minus the cold bubble. Why?"

"The one responsible for that, and for the chaos at the hospital, was behind the situation out there last night."

"The same man Celty's power couldn't reach or touch?"

"No...Even the man her power couldn't touch was apparently just a pawn, and there was someone else controlling his actions. About all the people who started passing out after the fight..."

"I checked in with the hospital in my father's name, so while they didn't give details, they said those were about half of the comatose patients who had disappeared when the hospital collapsed. They still can't find the other half. Did you know already about the patients who had vanished back then?" The older man was half expecting him to say he knew, since the boy certainly had the means to have found out.

"Yes, Izaya showed me the data on them. I guess I was right and they were going to be used to try to start a war. The question then is, a war between who? I mean, at first it looked like it was between Dollars and Dragon Zombie—Kadota told me those were the ones Dollars were fighting at first—but...After that, it almost looked like they were trying to start a war between Dollars and the police—the government." The blue eyed boy heaved a sigh and held one hand to his suddenly aching head as he said, "It's like someone really wants to force Dollars out into the open, actively."

"'Dollars' or 'you'?" Shinra asked shrewdly.

A moment later, Mikado's stunned gaze went up to him. "...You mean...you think someone has something against me, personally, and is using Dollars to get to me?"

"Or maybe just trying to get Dollars' leader to show himself. It may not be anything personal, but you, and Dollars through you, have a whole lot of power and the ability and resources to act both _inside and outside_ the law," the man informed him quietly. "It may be the 'person' wrecking havoc on you is trying to force your hand, to see how much power you have, even to see if you're a fair match for a force as powerful as the government. If it turns out you are, either by getting caught in such a conflict or by preventing it entirely, they may well back you. There are those who seek power, after all, and Izaya isn't the only one I know of, just the one I know best. The difference is that Izaya seeks _his own_ power, while some others out there seek a power _to back_. They don't all want personal glory in that sense, but instead look for someone to be their scapegoat or to take any of the repercussions of their actions _for_ them. Such a stance gives them a hidden power, rather than a blatant one."

For a minute, Mikado sat silently and thought, then shook his head and said, "I doubt a spirit would need such a thing from me."

Blinking in surprise, the older man asked, "A spirit? Have you talked with Celty about it, then? She probably has some idea what a spirit would want from a specific individual, and probably now more than she did before."

The blue eyed boy tipped his head to the side and asked, "So, how did things go with Celty's head, then?"

"Surprisingly well!" Shinra replied energetically. "She's so much more well-balanced and attractive and—"

Mikado pretty much tuned out all the rest of the hour-long tirade which followed, noting only a couple points. She had her memory back, but nothing in their relationship had changed—other than how she had become more willing to accept it as more than a friendly roommate situation. If anything, her abilities had gotten stronger, and she now had the ability to direct them properly, and found she'd actually learned more about them without her memory than she'd known _with_ it. Somehow, that was rather ironic.

Later in the day, the boy had Celty take him to the hospital—he'd still have one more trip there before he'd be going back to class. Once he was back at Shinra and Celty's, he was on the computer, searching out more data regarding the spirits, along with searching for ways he could keep his thoughts hidden from a mind-reader. What he learned was singularly useful, and while he was sitting in front of the computer, he tested the shielding method he'd found.

It was a fairly simple method, and didn't actively require a belief in anything, so he closed his eyes and focused on imagining a ball of white light above his head, with the intent to purify, protect, and cleanse. From the ball, he drew light down into his body, making it travel from top to bottom—and was surprised to see it pushing something like darkness from his body as it went, a darkness he released at his fingertips and toes. The next step was to take the light he'd pulled into his body and expand it to form an egg-shaped bubble of light around his body, which pushed the darkness away from it.

At that point, it became a little more complicated, as he had to hold the bubble he already had while pulling more light from the bubble to create many strands of light inside the single sheet. Once he had many multiple layers of thread-like strands completely surrounding him from top to bottom, wound around almost like a ball of yarn, he made sure the top of the bubble was anchored, then gave the bottom a twist—and only just realized how powerful an image in his mind was.

He'd been trying to create a fabric-like weave, since that was stronger than fused threads following one path, so as he 'twisted' the bottom, his mind made each layer shift so they crossed at different angles. Those, once set, he effectively 'melted' together so they wouldn't move or pull apart if something small struck them, then stuck them to the inside of the solid sheet he'd put up at first. He was finished then, so dismissed the bubble and opened his eyes.

The results were decidedly unexpected. Until he was actively shielded, he hadn't even realized he'd had a perpetual din of noise in his head, caused by him subconsciously hearing the thoughts of others. The result was something like suddenly becoming deaf, and he wondered how he'd been hearing so many thoughts in the _first_ place. It also meant he could _feel_ someone trying to get into his head. His mind was drawn back to the immediate problem, since it was giving him a headache—as the force 'scratched' on the shield he'd put up, he realized he'd have to make said shield stronger.

Checking the time, he realized the whole process of building the shield had only taken about five minutes, and the site had informed the reader how it would get faster the more they did it, so his 'time' could only go down from there. While all that was good, he felt it would be prudent to build a stronger shield, since he really didn't need a headache from the one trying to get in. Closing his eyes again, he made the shield stronger and thicker, knowing he could build it with an infinite number of layers, and finally found a point where he could both feel the scratching and have it not affect him.

Done with that, he realized another problem, or maybe it was just him. Either way, he suddenly felt detached from his environment, cut off and off-balance, without the din he was used to hearing. When he decided to try looking it up, he found something called 'grounding', which seemed to be a means of stabilizing oneself in a new environment or in new circumstances. He also came across something about cutting ties, and looked at it curiously, then decided to use his own 'inner eye' as they explained it, to show him the current state he was in.

The point of using the 'inner eye' was to simply accept what it showed, not to second-guess or try to erase it because 'it wasn't possible', but it made him shudder to see all the strands attached to his body. Those strands were bonds he had with other people, even with strangers he passed on the street every day, and the quantity was so large he was nearly engulfed by them, even though most of them weren't very big. On the other hand, they all had some degree of form and 'personality', and a couple actually belonged to spirit beings! While he wouldn't usually be 'worried' about it, in that sense, the site had mentioned those strands attaching him to others could be used to manipulate him and his actions, both consciously and subconsciously.

As such, he checked the site again for the explanation on how to cut ties, and it also turned out to be fairly simple, given what it was. The best method, as they put it, was to sever _all_ the ties at first, then to deliberately reform the desired ones, to friends and family a person _wanted_ a bond with. To do so, he needed to imagine some kind of burning blade, and imagine it first cutting the ties about a foot from his body, so he did, then gave the loose ends a pull and snap back to the ones who had attached them—it would basically just give all but tangible psychics a minor headache. Psychics might get a sensation like whiplash if they were very invested in the bond. After that, he had to use the burning blade to cut off the foot he'd left attached to himself, then for good measure, he had to burn that remaining piece. Reforming the bonds was as simple as focusing on psychically attaching a thread to the particular person, or it would re-form naturally by virtue of spending time with the person.

After going through the process of cutting the ties, he felt even _more_ detached, but like a tremendous weight had been lifted off him, so sighed and went back to the site which explained the grounding—he almost couldn't even _think_ anymore, he was so disrupted. Thankfully, all 'grounding' needed was to imagine energy from the earth flowing up through one foot, up one side of the body, along the arm, into the head, and back down the other side of the body from top to bottom, so it could flow out the other foot and back into the earth. It was simple and easy—and had the desired effect. As he opened his eyes and checked the time, he realized all the reading and actions he'd done had only taken about half an hour, so rose and began pacing, feeling stable again.

Now he knew without doubt he'd had spirits interfering with him, even possibly controlling his actions, and while one of the 'spirit' energies he'd seen may have been Celty's, he didn't know any other such beings personally. He didn't mind the thought of re-forming a bond with her, so decided to quickly imagine a thread linking him to her, and his inner eye showed him a narrow bond had indeed formed. In a way, it gave him a base and a comparison to use against others, spirits in particular, because a bond formed deliberately 'looked' different from one which had built naturally. How had spirits formed bonds like that with him? One of the key requirements for a natural bond was close proximity, so it wasn't that.

Or was one of them the mastermind behind all his troubles lately? If so, that meant the cold bubble was a form of 'proximity'.

Still pacing as he thought, he started to realize a lot of things he hadn't before—like how his mind was processing data much faster now that it was quiet. It was strange to think of it, but now, seeing the difference, he understood how he'd fairly been wading through a mire with the din in his mind before. Such simple actions had led to _this_? Somehow, it was both puzzling and a relief, and it gave him protection which stayed with him or was easy enough to set up again in spirit form. The question was whether he'd still be able to do the same things he had in the past, given how he'd shut himself off from the din and bonds he'd had.

Going into the main room to get a drink, he sat at the table—only to start as he heard a key in the lock from outside. It could have been Shinra or Celty coming back, the former from shopping and the latter from work, but something told him it wasn't so simple, so he got up to go to the corner and look. The door opened a moment later, and Mikado stared in shock at the man he saw, who also froze and stared at the boy similarly for a minute.

"Fancy meeting you _here_, of all places," Shiki commented dryly, shutting the door behind him and giving the blue eyed boy a wry grin.

"Yeah...Er, why are you here, though? And why do you have a key, apparently?" Mikado asked, backing into the kitchen as the man walked in like he owned the place.

"Kishitani is our doctor. The five guys who were nearly killed are here for care, and I have a key so I can get in during an emergency," Shiki explained, sitting on one of the living room couches and motioning Mikado to sit opposite him. "Speaking of, where is our young doctor?"

Sitting on the other couch, the black haired boy assessed what the man in the white suit had said, then replied, "He's shopping, but should be back soon. I guess the rooms I've been told not to go into are due to that, then. Though, it seems like you use the key for more than emergencies." His amused expression made the man chuckle.

"Of course. If you're serving Awakusu-kai—or _any_ yakuza—you're effectively their slave. That makes Shinra such, though we don't count the courier that way, and Izaya is halfway between serving and just being an acquaintance," Shiki explained.

Mikado blinked and asked, "Where do _I_ fit in, then?" A sudden thought made him add quickly, "And what does that have to do with you calling me 'White Queen', something only Izaya should be doing, or even _know_ about?"

"To answer the second question first, I don't think either of you realize how perceptive I am," Shiki replied with an amused smirk. "To start, I'm a lip-reader—that's very, very useful in my line of work—and since Izaya doesn't know that, he doesn't realize I 'overheard' your entire discussion with him in the car the first time you and I met. That's where the 'Queen' part came from. The 'White' part came from my observation of his chessboard, which I know represents people as 'pieces' on a board he _thinks_ he controls. It doesn't take a genius to realize the only Queen on the board, the white one, represents you. I'd appreciate you not giving him any ideas about how much I _actually_ know about him, though."

"Okay..." Mikado agreed, looking mildly surprised. "I never thought you'd actually be referencing my piece on his chessboard, not something 'private' between us."

The man chuckled, then went silent, as though mentally debating something. He then said, "Your other question...In groups like ours, when someone does right by us, even without them being a member, they become important to us and are people we trust. They're typically called a 'little sister' or 'little brother' to yakuza, so don't fall under our 'rules', but we'd give our lives or kill to protect them. Basically, we take better care of them than we do our own members and their families. (1) You qualify as a little brother to Awakusu-kai, and to Medai."

The blue eyed boy went cross-eyed for a moment, then asked, "Because of how I saved Akane? Is that really worth such a thing, when Dollars would technically be your rivals, and I _know_ some of them have interfered with you."

With a snort, the man said, "It isn't just about you saving Akane, and your position in Dollars is a _boon_ to us, since—"

He was cut off there as Shinra walked in and announced cheerfully, "Mikado, I'm back and I brought sup—Oh, Shiki!" His gaze turned entirely shocked as he saw the man sitting in the living room with the boy.

"As I was saying," Shiki went on in a dry tone with a glance at Shinra. His gaze then went back to Mikado. "You being our 'little brother' and having control of Dollars means there _is_ no issue, and as long as you, personally, don't turn us over to the cops, we may as well be playing a game with your people. We also know a lot about what goes on with your people, and everything Akabayashi has reported to us pretty much makes you a better ally than enemy—and a loyal one. For what it's worth, even your retort to Akabayashi's threat gave us cause to think highly of you, and as long as we support you, all of Medai won't touch you. Also, Izaya slipped up and let me know _you're_ the one who most advanced the case by tying Nebula and the explosion there to what happened to our guys."

"Eh..." Mikado murmured, pondering the words. He then blinked and asked, "Would this still have happened if the incident at the hospital hadn't?"

With a shrug, the man replied, "I can't tell you. It may have, but it would have taken longer. As things stand, you and Miss Akane are the two most important people to us right now, followed closely by the adult Awakusus. You can't change it now that you have status as our little brother."

"Er...Shiki, I take it you came to see your men?" Shinra asked, trying to pretend he hadn't just heard that discussion.

"I did, but since Mikado was here and you weren't, I settled for talking with him for a bit," Shiki agreed, rising.

"Before you go, Shiki, do you have some data about the case which you haven't given to Izaya?" Mikado asked as he realized he'd have no better chance to get all the data so he could work properly.

The man looked back at the boy's even, blue gaze which was already calculating something. He then said, "If you're so interested, I'll bring you the file we have later, so you can look at it. Frankly, I thought you'd stop working on it without your King's direction."

"The King is the _weakest_ piece on a Chess board," Mikado replied dryly. "Though, I sort of think he sees himself as...not as a piece on the board, but a player above it—a God, not a King. But, when Izaya gives me free reign of all the _right_ data, I generally out-do myself with finding solutions and keeping negative repercussions to a minimum. Thanks to the force which blew apart the hospital, I don't think I should just stop working on it, since the two incidences are overlapping a bit too much."

"Do you think they're somehow linked?" the man asked sharply.

"Probably not, but I may find that man from last night is linked to both," the teen had to answer with a wry grin. "He was clearly a physical human who wasn't possessed. At least, not the way the comatose patients from the hospital were. It's really bugging me how they're tied so tightly together, even though they're separate cases—I want to know for sure if they're really separate or..."

"If your premonition is true, it was no accident our two forces came together," Shiki replied quietly, then faced Shinra and said, "Let's go see them, then." The two men headed down the hall.

**Notes:**

(1) This is true, by the way. Virtually every biker group, Mafia/Yakuza group, and established criminal ring/family has such a status for people they happen to like, but who aren't part of their group through induction or marriage. It can be a very useful thing to have, but sometimes...not so much. The yakuza (and the Japanese in general) have this huge thing about 'honor', so if someone has that status to them, they tend to go somewhat overboard.


	12. 12-Dangerous Meeting

Dangerous Meeting

Mikado had just spent the night pouring over the papers Shiki had given him, and was surprised by how clear things seemed now. From there, he had gone over several odd notes on the Dollars site, even on a few other chat sites he frequented. More, he had even searched for a lot of terms which would have seemed irrelevant to the average person looking at the data. What he'd found was an eerie trend, and a second trend under that which had to do with Izaya—and unless he missed his guess, the man was trying to...resolve more than one issue, one even including the boy, himself?

No, he was probably applying more to the situation than he should have been, but it almost seemed the older man was _trying_ to get his attention.

Well, it had value, either way, since it led him to three particular men—three especially _powerful_ men—one of whom was the well-dressed man from the street fight and near-riot. By itself, it meant he had a name for one of the key players, one he knew for sure was tied directly to one of the cases he was working on, and gave him leads for the other, so he could request help from Dollars. The help had already proven itself, as a few members had posted data about them—for example, how one ran a successful business and another had inherited wealth and 'title' of a sort from their 'noble' lineage in the past, before the Meiji Era began. The 'noble' was the same well-dressed man the boy was beginning to despise.

By the time breakfast rolled around the next day, he had come to another realization, as well—normal people _projected_ nearly _all_ their thoughts, without even knowing they were doing it. They just thought things, without assessing if it was something 'for others' or something 'personal', so they never defined whether it was staying in or going out. The—unfortunate—result was that people like him _always_ heard those thoughts everyone else was 'putting out', because too little control was going into the manner in which the average person thought about things.

It had some benefits, as well, since it made it easy for him to know what they were thinking and feeling, and he could reply in kind—much of his shrewdness had come from that very fact. (1) However, his mind had been overloaded at the same time, and even gotten confused and blurred, so for him to think about things in 'silence' now that he had a shield up, it was actually _easier_ to come to shrewd results, even _without_ hearing those other thoughts. Furthermore, he'd been finding that when he _wanted_ to hear something, he'd hear it, regardless, and even hear it with more clarity than he ever had before, mainly because he was choosing to hear _one_ thing, not hearing a thousand at once without his say.

A hand on his shoulder made him start and look up—at Shiki! "Shinra tried to call you for breakfast, but you didn't respond. What's the matter?"

"You're here early..." the boy replied dryly, handing the man a sheet of paper.

Blinking, the older man examined the data and said, "So these seem to be the main players, and apparently in both of your recent issues...They aren't people we can touch easily, but we _can_ still wreck havoc on them. Actually, two of my guys woke up this morning, so I came to find out any new data from them."

"Ah. By the way, while I was looking around on-line last night, I found out I'm supposed to have been invited to a sake ceremony if I'm a 'little brother' to you..."

Shiki met the shrewd, blue gaze with an amused expression as he said, "Yes, and no. To be clear, being a 'little brother' to Awakusu-kai and Medai is a little different from being one to _the Awakusus_ or another of the Medai leaders." Mikado blinked and tipped his head to the side curiously, so he went on, "As a little brother to the group itself, no ceremony is required because you aren't literally 'one of us'. If you become a little brother to the Awakusus themselves, you become another Awakusu—that's where the tea ceremony comes in, and you actually _do_ have that option right now. However, if we officially have such a ceremony, the Awakusu-kai underlings are all going to call you 'Aniki', out on the street where anyone can hear."

"...They're...going to call me 'big brother' with such respect, even though I'm a 'little brother' and younger than them?" Mikado asked with a thoroughly confused expression.

"Oh, they'll still treat you with plenty of respect without the ceremony, but the ceremony makes you part of the direct family, even if it's not by blood," the man smirked. "And it _would_ be the Young Head who would perform the ceremony with you if we had it, so not only would your rank be _higher_ even than _mine_, but you'd be able to take power if the Young Head and the Head couldn't do so for some reason. It would be short-term, granted, but they'd take your word seriously and look to you for advice, guidance, and leadership. It's quite the position to be in, and while _you_ could probably handle it, I doubt your blood family, your friends, and your school could. As such, we'll wait until you're out of school for that."

Rubbing his head tiredly, the boy had to admit, "You're probably right. I don't want to be...er...so close to anyone but Dollars just yet if I don't have to be." He then took the sheet back from the man and went back to what he was looking at on the screen, still trying to puzzle out how he'd become so important to Awakusu-kai so quickly. "Why would the Young Head perform the ceremony when I haven't even _met_ him yet?"

"Miss Akane is his daughter."

The simple reply caused the blue eyed boy to give a heart-felt sigh and write a few more notes on the sheet. As he rose, he said, "Dollars are looking into these guys, and I'm also going to check a few more things out, since something else about this is bothering me. I found some new data, things Izaya hadn't told me, in what you gave me, so I was able to find a few indicators which make me think our cases are actually separate, but some of the same people are involved."

"Normally, if it's the top people who are involved in both, they'd be linked by those top people's goals," the man answered dryly.

"Normally, when there's such a link, both actions produce a situation in line with said goals," Mikado replied as dryly. "If it's this guy, this Hitomi Masato, for example, anything he did would be to 'restore his line to power', if that was his goal. He's working at cross-purposes, though, by using Nebula's zombies to attack Awakusu-kai and by trying to get the government and local gangs to turn on Dollars by using spirit-possessed bodies to instigate fights."

"Wouldn't both of those take some really powerful people out of power, though?"

"Would _you_ lose power by being attacked, or would you become a deadly enemy, even against someone with his power? He _loses_ power by that action. And what would happen if Dollars actually _won_ the fights with the other gangs and the government? Most of my gang is hidden in plain view—it would be impossible for anyone to do them enough damage to lose a fight, even the government."

Shiki had to stop and assess the words for a minute, then slowly nodded and said, "I guess you've got a point. Maybe the difference is in the 'he' Hitomi mentioned the other night, since I can't see a spirit's goal being the same as a human's."

"Yeah, that's what I was thinking, too. It still means I have to see if he's the one causing the zombie issue, and if he is, does he still have more of them?"

"If he does, he made them himself after grabbing the already-made ones," the Yakuza man commented.

With a nod, the boy headed for the kitchen. "Another thing I need to know before you guys go into a fight and lose more men."

Celty and Shinra both looked up at them when they heard the words, then Celty typed and used her shadows to carry her PDA to Mikado. [What fight do you mean?]

Looking up at her, the blue eyed boy said, "The guys who are here now are the survivors of a huge attack, and the one who caused it may have more to throw at Awakusu-kai, who obviously want to pay the person back for doing them so much unprovoked harm."

"How would you be able to find something like that out? It isn't like a doctor can just take blood samples of every person on the street to see if there's something wrong with them," Shinra commented.

"Yeah. I'm going to have to use a bit more dangerous method at first," Mikado agreed, reaching up to rub the rapidly healing marks on the back of his neck.

[That's really dangerous! What if you can't get back after?] Celty asked in alarm.

"What does the courier mean?" Shiki asked the boy beside him, having easily been able to read her reply to Mikado.

"My soul seems to like walking around independently of my body," the black haired boy said in amusement, sitting at the table. "As for the danger, it's much reduced now that I've found a site which explained shielding to me, for use in both the physical and the spirit worlds. Celty, you can stay with me if you're so worried."

She nodded emphatically, her cat-eared helmet bobbing with the motion.

"You should get some rest, first," Shinra told him dryly. "You were up all night, after all, and being tired is a pretty good way to make sure things go wrong on your planned excursion. I'll be happy to give you a drug to help you sleep."

"No thanks," Mikado answered quickly, then looked at Celty and said, "Later today, then, since the 'resting' part of that is probably still valid." The Dullahan nodded her agreement, so Mikado ate, then went to bed for awhile.

Mikado & Izaya

By the time he woke, it was almost suppertime, so he ate, then laid on the couch as Celty sat nearby. It didn't take him long to separate, and since Celty was 'staring' at his spirit form, he gave her a wave, then thought about the zombies who had attacked Awakusu-kai and the location of the one who was controlling them.

He was expecting the change in scenery, and even felt it would be some elite home, rather than a normal home or lab, but he was honestly surprised to see himself hovering above a traditional Japanese mansion, with the koi pond and gardens and walkways outside the main building. Near the mansion was a modern building like a professional building—and he was surprised to find the area was near Ikebukuro, and still inside Toshima District, like Ikebukuro was. He was more surprised to find that it didn't look like the place wasn't being kept up well.

Curiously, he began looking for the zombies, trying the professional building first, and found there were several rooms where such bodies were strapped down. A count of the bodies he could see showed easily as many of them as there had originally been, so it was nothing to scoff at. The revelation caused him to return to the walls and gate of the compound, seeing what kind of security system there was, and it turned out to be a pretty basic cameras-and-alarms kind of system.

Or so he thought, until he came across a spirit-form guard dog with a misshapen, clearly crushed skull and mostly severed neck. He'd read something about such a thing—an inugami curse, usually used to attack a specific enemy and which would generally also damage or kill the one who created it, not used as a guard dog to just attack anyone. The problem with an inugami was that it could damage, even kill, both normal humans and spirits, and for it to be used as a guard, how could such a thing have been done? Either way, he quickly thought about going to find the spirit who was apparently challenging him, just to get away from it, since one blow had nearly downed his shield!

While the thought _did_ take him away from the dog spirit, it _also_ dropped him in a bubble of white light, as he'd been in before—and he felt something seize his spirit form that time. Looking up in alarm, he found the light clearing to show a room which mainly looked like a kind of old-fashioned sitting room, with tatami mats, a short table, cushions to sit on, hanging scrolls, and even a set of swords on a stand to one side of it. In the room, standing near the table, was a spirit man who...wasn't what he'd been expecting to see. Smirk aside, the spirit just _wasn't_ computing in his mind.

For all he'd been thinking it might be something traditional or completely foreign, he was actually looking at a man so attractive he could _almost_ have been taken as a woman, especially with his long, black, flowing hair. His face was slender and delicate in most features, but a few were too strong to fit on an average woman, like his nose and jaw line, but he was also apparently clean-shaven, regardless of his very, very pale skin. What he wore was something like a simple, plain, white, shapeless robe Mikado would have called a sheet with sleeves on it, and it was held at the waist by a plain, brown cord. Over it was another, sleeveless robe which was also fairly plain, but in blue and red stripes, and unlike the solid piece of the lower robe, it hung open in the front.

"So you came to see me, did you?" the being asked in smirking amusement, reaching out to take the boy's chin in his hand. "It was rather unwise of you to do, you realize...I was expecting another visit, so I prepared a means to keep you here."

"Why are you so interested in me? Who are you? What do you want?" Mikado asked sharply, yanking his chin back from the other spirit.

With a chuckle, the man asked, "Which name do you want, then? I've been called by a good many of them."

"...What about your proper name, not the ones others have called you, but the one you call yourself?" the boy asked softly, meeting his deep blue gaze—and seeing mild surprise and curiosity in it.

"Should it matter to you what name a demon has?" the man snorted suddenly.

"Spirit," the boy corrected immediately.

"...What?" the spirit asked, frowning slightly.

"You're a spirit, not a demon. At least, by my culture's definition of the words, you aren't a demon. Whether you're good or evil is another matter, but your form is still a spirit's," Mikado explained calmly. "Our demons are too tangible to be such, even when people _think_ they can't see them."

A silence fell, then the man said instead, "I'm trying to find out something...Is there any worth in this world? So far, all I've gotten out of people is sheer stupidity, so I was becoming horribly bored. The most skill and intelligence I've seen to date has come from you and the man who was always with you before. Breaking you up was a good thing, as far as I can tell—it weakens you and your dependence."

Frowning, the boy noticed more than one odd point about what the spirit had said, but questioned the first thing which came to mind, "What's your definition of 'worth'?"

"Not something a human would typically understand, especially not from me," the man replied in amusement.

"So we come right back to that again—who _are_ you?"

The spirit stepped close to him and leaned down to whisper in his ear—and the boy's eyes went wide and shocked.

An instant later, the door opened and a man walked in, saying, "So, your possessed are mo—"

Mikado's eyes went to the well-dressed man's shocked ones as they stared at each other for a minute—then the boy recalled a trick to break energy bonds, so poked a hole in one with a needle made of energy, then exploded the needle. In his desperation to escape just then, the actions happened almost of their own accord, but they did what they needed to, so he didn't question the 'how' or the ease of it. The spirit hissed and jumped back from him as the bonds shattered, even as Mikado reached for Celty, and a moment later, he'd returned to the room and gotten back in his body.

As he was opening his eyes, still slightly spirit, he cried out in pain, in _agony_, as an arrow made of light energy pierced his body. Before he could register more than that, Celty had completely enveloped him in her shadows, even as he struggled against the pain. His body _ached_ and—

A sudden epiphany made him realize it wasn't his 'body' at all, it was his _spirit_ which was in such pain, both a jabbing, sharp kind and a dull, steady ache. Carefully, he moved his hand to the place the arrow had pierced him, and found it was gone and there was no blood or wound. In other words, the pain came from his soul, and his _energy_ was what was bleeding from him, his life force. He couldn't afford to give in to the pain until he at least _tried_ to seal the hole in his soul, or he may never wake up.

Drawing in several deep breaths and turning to his cold self, he found the pain was suddenly more manageable, though equally as strong. It was easier to think clearly, so he began reaching out for the energy which had been leaking away from him—Celty's shadows held it close to his body. Having her help had turned out to be the _best_ thing he could have done, even if it had been unintentional and just to help placate her. Either way, as he finished drawing the stray energy back in with invisible, spirit hands, he imagined the energy stitching itself back together so it created a film over the openings and sealed them. His life force stopped flowing away from him and his pain eased a fair bit, so...

He let go, and fell into sleep.

Izaya & Mikado

Celty, for her part, was really apprehensive about the boy going to track down the people who were trying to hurt him in the physical world, but she couldn't follow him, and could only hope he'd be able to make it back to her. She'd waited anxiously for about half an hour, watching over the boy and praying he'd be able to return safely, even as she monitored how cold his body was becoming.

When he'd appeared back in the room, she'd been about to jump for joy—or a Dullahan equivalent—only to realize by his expression that he was being pursued. As he was getting back into his body, she saw an arrow of light, saw it just a moment too late to stop it from hitting him. His scream of agony made her throw up her shadows, using them to shield him and to keep his life energy from the spirit-wound from going too far from his body—at least his body could still use it if it was within reach.

Her instinct had proven correct as she saw two more arrows strike her shadows, even as said shadows drank in their light and energy. On the other side of the shadow barrier, the arrow which had already hit the boy had also been drawn into her darkness, so she pulled her shadows in closer around him. All she could do was hope his soul could repair the damage, and that he wouldn't suffocate in the mean time, because her powers didn't include fixing wounds, not even spirit ones.

Never before had she been so scared, other than when she'd thought her head now had its own life—which it still did, in a sense, since she and her head could actually argue with each other. That aside, she had no way to help Mikado, and even Shinra wasn't able to do anything to help the boy, since a spirit wound couldn't be bandaged or stitched closed, and it would just keep 'bleeding' unless it could seal itself. To make matters worse, by the size of the arrows, they'd been _meant_ to create a wound beyond healing ability. It may have helped for Izaya to have been there, since it would have given more strength to Mikado to fight the pain and wound, but there was currently no chance of that, so all she could do...was wait.

"Celty, what happened?" Shinra asked as he ran into the room with a first aid kit—and stopped to stare at the shadow cocoon on his living room couch. "What kind of creature did you trap in there?"

With shaking hands, she pulled out her PDA and typed, [It's not a creature, it's Mikado. He was hit by energy arrows, and his life force is draining away...My shadows are keeping the energy close to him as well as protecting him from any more harm.]

"I should stitch him up, then," the young man told her, taking a step closer.

[You can't.]

"Wha—" he began to ask, then stopped and looked at her hunched form. He could read a whole lot of her feelings and words just from watching her, so he read them right then, and said softly, "As much as you're worried about his energy draining away, you'll suffocate him to death if you keep him in there for too long. You'll have to take the chance and unwind at least part of it. Do you think you could clear it from his extremities while keeping enough of the shadows around the place he's leaking from to act as a bandage?"

Her 'gaze' turned to him for a minute, then she focused on her surroundings—and found no further sense of threat, so turned her attention to the shadows around the boy, willing them to shift and tighten. Once he was tightly encased, she began peeling the shadows away from his head, then slowly began drawing both top and bottom in towards the middle. It seemed Mikado wasn't conscious, something she actually didn't know if she should worry about, but at least he didn't look like he was in pain. She worked her shadows off his legs and arms, but kept his chest from the armpit down and from the hips up tightly bound by her shadows, giving just enough leeway for him to draw in reasonable breaths.

Once she finished and let out a deep sigh of exhaustion, Shinra carefully moved over to pick Mikado up and take him to the room he had been given.

Celty's PDA appeared in front of him as she informed him, [He's probably going to have to rest for longer than the days off class he has left. I think it's only tomorrow and the day after.]

"We have space, at least. But the hospital will panic if he doesn't go see them tomorrow," Shinra answered. "Well, at least he woke up the rest of the Awakusu-kai guys here, so it seems they'll all recover, and hopefully, so will Mikado."

[I don't know. The size of the arrow he was hit with...it wasn't a small wound, and it went right through his body, so two sides have to seal.]

"As long as his life energy can't go leaking away, he should survive, right?"

[...It may be that he'll only survive as long as he's wrapped in my shadows...]

"Maybe. Or maybe he'll surprise us, like he seems to do every time he turns around, and his ingenuity will save him again."

After a pause to think about the words, Celty perked up a bit and replied, [Yes, I hope so, too. I really do. After all, he literally beat a Taker, and no one else ever has before.]

"Right," Shinra agreed with a grin, then took the boy to his room.


	13. 13-Realizations

**A/N:** If anyone else isn't getting email alerts for PMs arriving in your FFN inbox, please find the 'help' button at the bottom of the FFN main screen and let them know both that you aren't getting those alerts, and that you would like to be able to keep doing so.

Realizations

When Mikado woke, it was because something was poking his cheek insistently, and as soon as he acknowledged that, he suddenly felt pain and curled around his chest as it throbbed. Soon, as he adjusted to the pain, his senses returned to him and he could start processing other things, like how something was wrapped very tightly around his torso and how someone was leaning over him. Recalling the night before made him use his inner eye to see what was wrong with his body, only what he saw reminded him it was his soul, not his body, he had to worry about.

It seemed he was leaking only a little energy, but that was partly because an outside force was helping to keep it from going anywhere, and honestly...He had a hole in his soul. While there was a partial, broken film over the ends, the whole central part was still raw and torn, forming a veritable tunnel through him. Had a single arrow of energy really done so much damage, despite his shield? So it seemed, and repairing it was going to be a more difficult task.

Finally, his pain was under control enough that he could move, so he rolled over and looked up at the person hovering over him—only to see Erika there! Walker was sitting a couple feet away, and there were a few different voices outside the room, so he had to wonder if Kadota and Saburou were also there.

Erika grinned when she saw his eyes open, and said, "So you woke up. Good. Celty said you were shot by an energy arrow. Can you fix the hole she said was left behind?"

"If I can use a laptop to look something up, probably," the boy replied in a pained voice. "I think I had the right idea before, but I wasn't...in any shape to think it through or find out what else I could about soul damage."

"Okay, that's good," she grinned. "Celty's got her shadows wrapped around you so you don't leak too much life force, so if you rest for now, it should be okay."

"I'll get the laptop, then," Walker offered, getting up and walking from the room.

A minute later, even as Mikado puzzled over Erika's odd silence, Walker was back, offering the named device to the blue eyed boy—and Kadota, Saburou, Shiki, Celty, and Shinra all followed him into the room. With a bit of a sigh, the boy sat and shifted to lean back against the wall, even as he noted the laptop was already on. Quickly going on-line, he began searching for the data he needed.

"How are you feeling?" Shinra asked as he held a hand to Mikado's forehead to test his temperature.

"Other than being in pain, surprisingly good," the black haired boy replied dryly, voice still holding a pained tone.

"I'll give you a pain killer, then," the young doctor offered, and was about to move away when a sigh stopped him.

"Didn't Celty tell you it's impossible to use drugs to get rid of this kind of pain? It isn't physical—drugs can't actually do anything to a soul pain," Mikado said, eyes on the screen as he worked.

"So, while you look, would you mind explaining what happened?" Kadota asked worriedly, moving over to sit beside Mikado, even as Erika shifted to give him space.

"Yeah...about that...Shiki, it's Hitomi, and there's about as many of those zombie-drugged guys as the first time. Also, his residence isn't the kind of place you can just walk into, because there's an inugami guarding the gate. Normally, an inugami is a curse which attacks a specific target, harming or killing the caster, as well, but...This guy has one which attacks anyone who comes on the grounds, physical or spirit. You can't take it lightly, because inugamis _can_ and _do_ cause just as much physical harm as they do spiritual—it can attack you, kill you, even, whether or not you can even _see_ it," the boy explained, still working intently.

"So...we need an exorcist?" the man asked in confusion. "And I doubt it put the arrow through you."

At those words, the boy sighed and leaned back, closing his eyes for a minute. He then went back to work, even as he said, "I met the spirit, the 'him' Hitomi mentioned, and I haven't got a damned clue why he's even _here_, other than that I guess no one else either played his games or failed dismally if they did. He's very good at giving no information at all—most of what he says just creates more questions, and even from one word to the next, there are contradictions in what he's saying. Like, he said it was good for me to no longer be working with Izaya because it weakens us both and weakens our dependence. The first part would make sense if he wants to be able to overpower us or whatever...but weakening our dependence on each other benefits _us_, not _him_. And he wouldn't define his version of 'worth', since 'no human would understand it', let alone coming from him, supposedly, but, he is the same one I told you guys about before, Kadota, Erika, Walker...Only he isn't a Japanese God as far as I can tell. Not by his looks, anyway."

"Yeah, I thought this would happen," Walker nodded sagely. "That's why we said we'd look it up. There's a trend, when you start looking at ancient Gods and stuff, that a lot of them are actually the same being, just by a different name and with a slightly different personality and slightly different powers depending on which culture it is."

"Yeah, yeah! We checked several of them, and some are really obvious, like in Europe, how Zeus and Jupiter are the same God—but there's evidence, written records, even, that the Roman Gods were just the Greek Pantheon adopted and adapted to suit the Romans. On the other hand, there's a God of the Sun of some sort in nearly every religion and culture, like Ra and Amaterasu, but there's also other roles nearly every one fills. Things like an Underworld God who presides over the Land of Death, or like a trickster God who plays games with people and tries to usually make them do bad things, or to destroy themselves. It's not completely universal, but it's close, and the stance and definition of the 'trickster' changes from religion to religion, you know?"

"Anyway, there's two possibilities, and one's the God of War, and the other's the Trickster," Walker went on when Erika stopped. "All the Gods can change their appearance to suit the land they're in at the time, assuming they _want_ to, and they even use different names to suit, but their roles aren't necessarily universal. We don't actually _have_ either a 'trickster' _or_ a 'God of War' by those definitions, even though we have some who do some of both, along with other things, so the closest we have to a 'God of War' is actually Hachiman. While the God of War in other lands _encouraged_ bloodshed, ours encouraged learning and true honor, not war, but that doesn't mean he isn't the same person. It just means he presented himself differently when he came here, probably because something else—like our demons or Warlords—was already filling the role."

"So, did he give you a name?" Erika asked curiously.

"...The name he gave me is what bothers me," the blue eyed boy sighed, then turned the laptop so Erika and Kadota could see it.

She whistled as Kadota stared and asked, "Is it even _possible_ to fight the devil?"

"According to Christians, only in a spiritual sense—by not giving in to temptation or whatever—not a physical one," Mikado shrugged, then returned to the search for the data he was _actually_ looking for.

"What do you mean, the devil?" Shiki asked with a frown.

"...I asked him for his name, and he asked which one I wanted, so I told him I wanted his _real_ name, not a name humans gave him. He said his name was Lucifer," the boy answered, and a sense of doom filled the room, other than from Erika and Walker, who put their heads close together to talk in whispers.

Celty's PDA appeared in front of the boy's face, asking, [If that's true, how did you survive being shot by one of his arrows? He's not weak by any stretch of the imagination, so...did he not actually _mean_ to kill you?]

"If he's the devil, he's not weak, and I never thought he was," Mikado scowled suddenly, pushing the PDA out of his way.

Celty started typing something, but Shinra, who was watching over her shoulder, covered her hands and the device with one hand. She looked up at him, so he gave his head a shake. After a pause, she seemed to sigh and lowered the device, but the two of them were the only ones who were aware of the exchange.

Finally, the blue eyed boy found what he was looking for, so began reading curiously—and realized what he'd missed. It seemed obvious when he thought about it—unlike a physical body, there was no mass to fill in a hole, so the repairs needed weren't as simple as just 'sewing' the energies over the hole. No, he had to effectively sew _all_ the energies back together. As such, while he'd been on the right track, he'd really missed a lot of information, so he had to take the time to redo the whole thing.

Setting the laptop aside, he laid down and closed his eyes to focus, even as the others waited quietly. He then turned his inner eye on the wound again, and began in the middle of the hole, reaching out and finding the torn soul scraps so he could wind them back together. It took a long time, but it wasn't terribly hard, and the more of his soul he repaired, bit by bit, the less pain and the more energy he felt. It was less and less difficult the more he repaired—the hardest part had been the beginning, where there were no anchors or ties to use as guides or supports.

It took so long to finish that the room had cleared out by the time he opened his eyes to look around, and this time, when he sat up—he felt no pain. Well, he couldn't say there was _no_ pain, but what he felt was minimal, and most of it came from the wound being tender rather than it fairly bleeding. He wasn't losing energy anymore, so his energy had returned mostly to normal—but he was _famished_, and had no real idea why. As far as he knew, he hadn't been doing anything strenuous.

Getting up, he went to find the others, and they all looked up in surprise from their seats in the kitchen. Shiki wasn't there, and Shinra was probably tending his other patients, but Kadota's gang and Celty were all present and accounted for.

[You should be resting!] Celty informed him in a panic as she rose.

He held a hand up in a 'stop' position. "It's okay. I found what I needed to, and I'm not losing energy anymore. Actually, I'm starving, so do you have anything I can eat?"

A shocked silence fell, then Erika whooped as she and Walker high-fived each other, Kadota grinned, Saburou chuckled, and Celty just stood still as she tried to process what Mikado had said.

"Right on! It figures Mikado would get it right!" Erika exclaimed.

"He beat the Midnight Man, after all," Walker agreed cheerfully.

[You're really not losing energy anymore?] Celty asked. [How?]

"I didn't realize I had to literally sew the whole hole back together from the inside out—a spirit wound has nothing to 'fill' it automatically unless it's a small wound," the black haired boy replied. "Once I tied it all back together, piece by piece, it stopped leaking energy out, and it's just a little tender now."

After a pause, she tentatively began unwinding her shadows from him, and quickly found it was indeed true that he was no longer leaking energy. [Oh, good, then it makes sense you're hungry,] the Dullahan told him in relief, returning all the rest of her shadows to her.

"It does? How many meals did I miss?" he asked in surprise.

[No, it's not whether you missed them or not, it's because using mental and spiritual energy is just as exhausting as using physical energy, and the work needed to repair a hole that size would have used a lot of energy and attention. It's normal for any kind of spiritualist or psychic to get hungry after doing even simple tasks which take a lot of time or attention.]

"Oh, okay, that's good to know," Mikado grinned, joining them at the table as they brought food out for him. And, to his surprise, he ate double what he usually would have, then checked the time. "I'd better go to the hospital before it gets too late."

"We'll give you a ride," Kadota offered.

"Sure, thanks!" the boy grinned. He then asked, "By the way, how did calling me 'Boss' in front of the police do any good?"

"It kept them from getting your name, for one, and it let them see you weren't in agreement with the members who caused so much trouble," Kadota replied dryly. "It also showed them you have a lot of powerful people supporting you, what with Shiki, Celty, and I there. Anyway, let's go."

They headed out to the hospital, where Mikado got his last check-up of the week.

Mikado & Izaya

Around the time he got back to Shinra and Celty's, a message came in on his cell phone—and as soon as he saw the name, he immediately went on the chat site to talk with the man.

_Ryuugamine Mikado is resurrected from the dead!_

_Ryuugamine Mikado: I assume you know a good part of what's going on?_

_Tsukumoya Shinichi: Of course I know a good part of it. Word gets around. What I don't know is why you're still hesitating._

_Ryuugamine Mikado: First, I had to fix my soul after I got shot by an arrow, then I had to go to the hospital so they didn't worry..._

_Tsukumoya Shinichi: What else happened which hasn't been told to anyone else or been posted on-line?_

At the question, Mikado hesitated for a minute, then told the other man the details about his encounter with the spirit, even details he hadn't told the others. When he was done, there was a long silence before he got a reply, and it wasn't what he expected.

_Tsukumoya Shinichi: 'Lucifer's' reason bothers you, but you won't acknowledge a simple reality: nothing is as simple as it seems._

_Ryuugamine Mikado: That's a contradiction..._

_Tsukumoya Shinichi: Very funny. No, it isn't a contradiction, just a fact. 'Simple reality' isn't simple, and it never has been, nor will it ever be. By the way the spirit was talking, I almost think he wants to know if humans have the strength to overcome odds which seem impossible. He seems to want humans to get_

_Tsukumoya Shinichi: stronger, to learn from their mistakes, to form bonds, true bonds, and to maintain honor and integrity while overcoming a powerful foe. You can't tell me you never entertained the thought that it was exactly such a meaning and purpose which drove him._

_Ryuugamine Mikado: ...But...he's Lucifer!_

_Tsukumoya Shinichi: So he claimed. He could have lied. Or, if he told the truth, it's possible 'the devil' as 'the tester' is more a truth than 'the devil' as 'the ultimate evil'. As I recall, there are passages in the Christian Bible which refer to the devil as a tester of mankind, not as an evil being to be_

_Tsukumoya Shinichi: shunned and despised. Then again, as you pointed out to 'Lucifer', this land's definition of 'demon' isn't necessarily the same as another land's, and those varying definitions change the interpretation of the words. For example, 'evil' in this land is the murder of women and children, but in much_

_Tsukumoya Shinichi: of the Middle East, it's viewed as a right that men are allowed to kill women and children, their wives and daughters, if they do something as simple as forget to wash some article of clothing or fall in love with a man. To them, those murders aren't evil, but they are to us. And frankly, if he's_

_Tsukumoya Shinichi: going out of his way to find that 'worth', he doesn't mean by killing, because what seems to draw him to you is the way you save people. You take the chaos and destruction and create order and prevent death. If he was looking for anything evil, your ways would repel him, not attract him._

For a long time, Mikado sat and stared at the words. It was a lot to absorb, but the more he thought about it...the more sure he was that Tsukumoya Shinichi was right, and 'Lucifer', if that was indeed his name, wanted him to stop the damage.

_Ryuugamine Mikado: If that's all true, how does Hitomi fit in? What's the link between them, and why did Hitomi attack Awakusu-kai with the zombie-drugged guys?_

_Tsukumoya Shinichi: That probably has a lot to do with his boredom, but let me do some checking on Hitomi for you. Wait._

The pause which followed was so long Mikado almost fell asleep waiting for it.

_Tsukumoya Shinichi: Apparently, the Lady of Awakusu, your little friend's mother, was Hitomi's old flame and girlfriend, but she dropped him and chose the Young Head of Awakusu-kai. He never forgave either of them, so his personal plans aren't thought out as clearly as they could be, but they're still plenty dangerous_

_Tsukumoya Shinichi: to Awakusu-kai. It's a fact that revenge creates undue brutality, and he doesn't care how many die in the process._

_Ryuugamine Mikado: ... . You mean all of this started because of some lover's spat from over a decade ago?_

_Tsukumoya Shinichi: 'All of this'? It's true where the zombies are involved, but 'all of this' includes a good deal more than just them, and those other parts would have taken place, even without Hitomi. The difference is that Hitomi, if he succeeds in taking out Awakusu-kai, will effectively become a Warlord and_

_Tsukumoya Shinichi: destroy the government and the people._

For a minute, Mikado sat silently with his lips pursed—then had a sudden epiphany and realized what the missing link was.

_Ryuugamine Mikado: Thanks for your help, Tsukumoya. I'm going to stop this insanity, so I need to research a way to stop an inugami, then I'll head out._

_Tsukumoya Shinichi: Wait!_

Mikado stopped as he was about to hit the logout button, waiting for what the man wanted to say.

_Tsukumoya Shinichi: You won't find a 'way' to stop one through normal means, since those would all require a religious background. There used to be a site which talked about ways of preventing spirits from harming you, even without a belief in any particular God, but it's not there anymore, so I'll explain it here._

_Tsukumoya Shinichi: Pay attention, since I won't leave it up._

_Tsukumoya Shinichi: All you need is to create a ball of purifying, cleansing energy, then take hold of some of the strands of it and use them. You can use them as threads to bind, you can make them into needles to pierce, you can make a sword of light to damage spirits, but there are limits._

_Tsukumoya Shinichi: Also, spirits have strengths and weaknesses—just because a sword works on one enemy, that doesn't mean it will on the next. For an inugami, you don't have any middle ground, so you need to destroy it, but I'd be surprised if a sword would touch it. Not only would it be too fast, but it would be_

_Tsukumoya Shinichi: impervious to the same kind of weapon which killed it in the first place—a blade. Your best bet would be to bind it down with strong chains, and while it's trying to free itself, stick a large number of needles of light energy in it. Finally, channel as much energy from the bubble as you can into_

_Tsukumoya Shinichi: the spirit through the needles, then explode the energy. That's a pretty basic way of handling any spirit without going into blood seals and such—and a seal like that wouldn't work on an inugami, anyway, since it IS a blood seal of a sort. The exact method is one you have to adapt, and the_

_Tsukumoya Shinichi: greatest strength you can have is creativity and adaptability. What the 'light' can turn into is dependent on what you want it to be and how badly you want it. Though, for the most part, this only works on energy, not physical objects, so keep that in mind._

Mikado blinked in surprise as he realized he had just been given the answer to how he had rather abruptly and suddenly freed himself from 'Lucifer's' bindings on him the last time they'd met.

_Tsukumoya Shinichi: So, that's basically the short and the long of the site, with a bit of my own examples in there for the current situation. If you're going, good luck, and don't be careless._

_Ryuugamine Mikado: Thanks again for your help, and I'll be as careful as I CAN be. Anyway...Later, then._

_Ryuugamine Mikado has died!_

Izaya & Mikado

Sometime in the middle of the night, the boy walked down a road very close to Hitomi's home. As he walked, the members of Awakusu-kai fell in with him, and the ones who flanked him were Shiki, Akabayashi, Aozaki, and a man he didn't know, but the others resolved the issue by calling him the 'Young Head'. Anyone who saw them would have probably been too shocked for words, seeing who was 'on point' in the procession of sorts, but the area was deserted so late at night, and he was thankful for that fact.

He'd practically snuck out of Celty and Shinra's place, and since both had been sleeping, it was easy to keep them out of it. The 'lesson' had given him time to prepare, so he'd done so, knowing he could do _something_ with the spirits and that Awakusu-kai could keep physical dangers back from him—and that they would do so. As such, since he knew 'Lucifer' was now attached partially to Hitomi from another quick trip there he'd done only a short time ago, he'd force the two apart and track down the spirit, leaving the man for Awakusu-kai.

It occurred to him that he may actually regret the fast-approaching day when the mark on the back of his neck healed fully and things like what he was about to do wouldn't be nearly so easy or effective. On the other hand, having it just now—he suddenly didn't mind as much what Izaya had done, even though the older's method still left a lot to be desired.

"So, we couldn't find anyone who knew how to beat an inugami," Shiki commented.

"That's okay—I can improvise now. Also, you can't attack Hitomi right away, since you won't be able to touch him while the spirit's bound to him," Mikado replied.

"That's a lot to ask of us after—" the Young Head began with a glare.

"You'll get your chance, just let me detach 'Lucifer' from him, first," the boy said.

A silence fell, then the Young Head said, "Let us know when, then."

"Of course," the youngest of the number agreed, and silence fell for the remainder of the walk.


	14. 14-Final Trial

Final Trial

Frankly, Mikado was shocked.

Awakusu-kai had just blown up Hitomi's front gate! No subtlety there...It made him wonder how long it would take the police to get there.

Either way, they let him step inside first, since he knew where the inugami was and what to do about it.

Actually, because his normal self couldn't see spirits, he had no clue 'where' it was, but had laid a good many energy chains around himself to trap anything spirit in nature which tried to approach him. The stipulation was 'harmful intent from a spirit force', which was an easy enough term for energy to react to—and by virtue of his own chains seizing the inugami, he knew where it was. Its snarling as it tried to break the chains created an odd, echoing sensation, like a sudden chill followed by sudden warmth, then a sudden chill again, and even Awakusu-kai's members shuddered at the sensation.

While he was in the process of turning the dog spirit into a white needle pincushion (with the energy bubble hovering above his head, visible only to him), Hitomi approached, flanked by the zombie guys—and growled when he found himself also caught in the chains. The zombies, however, were left untouched, and kept up their rather meandering approach, because they were only drugged with man-made drugs, not possessed by spirits or something else supernatural.

"You can attack the zombies. I'm almost done with the dog, then I'll work on Hitomi," Mikado commented absently to the men around him, attention on holding the struggling inugami with his chains. Still, the chains were starting to break...

They didn't need to be told twice, as most of the Awakusu-kai guys jumped at the zombie people quite eagerly, and only two stayed to literally guard Mikado. Those two were Shiki and the Young Head—the ones who had the most vested in _probably_ killing Hitomi. It wouldn't surprise him if they did something so final, but he wasn't too keen on trying to stop them, either, now that he knew what kind of path the man would take.

As such, he just kept poking pins in the dog, hoping he'd get enough of them in with the intent to bypass its defenses _before_ it broke the chains. He didn't know how many he needed, so he was going for 'the more, the better'.

"The great Awakusu-kai of Medai Group is taking orders from a _child_ and even stepping down from a revenge kill?" Hitomi suddenly yelled, smirking. "How weak you've all become!"

The Young Head's calm, amused smile was chilling under the circumstances, as he said, "Well, you see, 'the kill' is still for us, but we prefer to let him level the playing field a bit, you know? It's been awhile, hasn't it, Masato?"

"Don't speak my name so familiarly, _Awakusu_!" Hitomi spat. "And what will a child be able to do to level the playing field?"

Right then, the inugami broke free of the chains and jumped at Mikado, so the boy knew it was now—or never. As he directed the bubble of light hovering above his head to pour its energy into the dog spirit through the needles, his hand extended in the direction he knew the dog was—

A sudden, piercing, agonized, grating howl split the night, making everyone there clap their hands over their ears and shudder from the chills the sound alone caused. Well, everyone except the zombies. Hitomi's eyes went to the place the howl had originated from in shock, knowing as Mikado did that it had indeed just died, even as both were wracked with chills and the older of the two suddenly spat up some blood. Some Awakusu-kai members who didn't have to fight the zombies right away stared at him in shock.

"What was that?" Shiki asked the blue eyed boy worriedly, reaching out a hand to steady the younger man, even as the chaotic sounds and motions of a battlefield rose around them, in earnest this time.

"The inugami is gone, the curse broken, but the one who created the curse still has a price to pay," Mikado replied, getting his bearings back and looking at the man. "And I think you know why you can't move forward, so make 'Lucifer' separate from you or I'll do it myself."

"Heh," Hitomi snorted. "You think you can do such a thing to him? To someone with so much power in his little finger he can tear down a hospital?"

"It's actually not hard, if you know the method," the boy replied dryly. "Though I'd never say I could destroy him—I know I can't do _that—_making him go somewhere else, like to the place where the rest of his form is, rather turns out to be simple. I just need to use the right kind of energy in the right way, and since I seem to have such an affinity to the spirit world without even being psychic, well..."

"Try it, then, but it won't work," the man smirked.

Because Mikado had seen the form of the merging earlier, he already had a pretty good idea of what to do—and it was similar to dealing with the inugami. Basically, if he used the needles and loaded Hitomi's body with energy from the bubble, 'Lucifer' would be forced from it. In this case, though, there was a good chance his needles would be removed, destroyed, or turned back on him if he made them visible, so he had to make them so narrow they couldn't be seen. Because there were no physical motions and there was no light show involved, it was actually easy to do such a thing with no indications, so long as he could be creative enough to manipulate the energy appropriately.

Once he'd pushed several needles into the man—and used his restored shield to deflect a few bolts of random energy—he felt sure it would be enough. Deflecting things rather than trying to reflect or block them actually eased a lot of the pressure on his shield, which was also a relief to him. If it was really Hitomi throwing those bolts of energy, though, he realized the man had _no_ idea what he was doing or how to go about it. Then again, unless he missed his guess, the man was using his own personal energy, not an outside and infinite energy source, which probably made a big difference in abilities and ease of use.

"Well, aren't you going to do anything?" Hitomi sneered above the chaos of the battle sounds around them.

With a decidedly serene smile, the blue eyed boy said, "But, Mr. Hitomi, I _have_ been doing something the whole time."

He then shoved energy into the man through the needles, making the energy compress to pass through them, then expand once in the other body. Hitomi's eyes crossed for a moment, then he groaned and some kind of wave everyone _felt_ rather than saw rose off him, creating another round of shudders. A quick shift to spirit form on Mikado's part just showed him the spirit he was after fleeing towards the far side of the mansion, even as the man looked up in something like horror, his face pale.

"Go for it, guys," Mikado told the two men with him, then turned and bolted in the direction he'd seen 'Lucifer' going.

"Now it's time for some payback for all our guys you killed," the Young Head said to Hitomi in a rather sweet tone which was creepy under the circumstances.

Putting that out of his mind, the black haired boy ran alongside the building, wondering—where _was_ everyone? Surely a house as big as that would have servants, and what about any relatives of Hitomi's? Well, maybe he'd never married or had children, but there should at least have been servants...Unless those were now zombies? Well, it meant he could search for his target in peace, anyway, but it made him shudder to think what kind of man Hitomi Masato was if he really had used his servants that way—stopping him was a priority.

At about that point, Mikado began opening doors, searching for the spirit, but most of the doors he opened led to rooms, not halls where he'd find other doors. It took a few tries to find one which led to a hall, and as he walked down the hall, he thought it was probably the right one, the one he'd seen earlier when he'd taken a quick look at the situation. If he was right, it would take him close to the middle of the mansion, where the room on the right would be the one 'Lucifer' seemed to favor.

When he reached that area, however, he suddenly heard an explosion, then a whole series of them, and the ceiling began falling on him!

Suddenly, someone seized him around the waist and dragged him, shoving him down into the corner against the wall and covering him, even as noise and dust rose all around them. His heart was pounding so fast he thought the other person could feel it, too—then again, the other...man's...? His heart was beating just as fast as the boy's, and with their chests pressed together, there was no mistaking it. And once the noise and dust began settling, he realized the body laying on his felt decidedly familiar.

When everything was quiet again, a familiar voice said wryly, "See, this is what happens when you go off without me."

As the man pushed himself up to hover above Mikado with an amused smirk, the boy had to stare for a minute, then—without even missing a beat, he was pleased to say—he retorted, "And _whose_ fault is _that_, Mr. 'Don't-Bother-Coming-Back'?"

"Yes, well, you really _do_ get into too much trouble without me, even if it turned out to be decidedly _productive_ trouble," Izaya smirked again, auburn eyes dancing. "You're just too interesting to leave alone, even for a budding deity like me!"

"Does that mean we're still—" the boy began to ask hopefully.

He was cut off by a deep, passionate kiss as the older man laid on him again, holding him close. More than the kiss, the almost desperate way Izaya held him was shocking, so he just let the man kiss and hold him as much as he liked, even returning the kiss—well, returning it as well as he could, which produced amusement from the older of the pair. Also, the boy himself practically felt starved for attention, or for the older man's, so had no desire to stop him, even when the hands roamed to places they shouldn't have been, especially not right then.

Noise startled them out of the moment, and Izaya pushed back from his younger boyfriend, sharp, auburn eyes scanning the damaged hall alertly. Mikado's eyes also scanned the area—and both saw men approaching them with knives and daggers in hand. As the blue eyed boy realized what was going on, he gripped the older man's arm as he was pushing himself up.

"Don't kill them—they're the rest of the comatose hospital patients," he told Izaya, also rising.

"Heh, you're expecting a lot of me under these circumstances," the auburn eyed man commented in a dry tone, drawing his switch blade as he rose to the balls of his feet to face them. There were almost a dozen, all told.

"Well, the sooner I can confront 'Lucifer', the sooner they should all collapse, so you can just hold them off while _I_ find the spirit," the boy replied, drawing one of his spare blades, a switch blade he'd been keeping in his sock, and tapping Izaya's free hand with it. "Use that to help you, too."

Blinking in momentary shock, the man then gave a rather wry smirk and asked, "I don't suppose you'll ever tell me how many you have on you?"

"Nope," Mikado grinned.

As the men moved forward to attack him and Izaya, the black haired man quickly made sure they had to keep their eyes on him—he'd knocked three out with a single, quick, unexpected spin. Thankfully, the three he knocked out were exactly the three the boy needed out of the way so he could get into the room on the other side of the hall, where there was a one-foot-high and two-foot-wide gap from the damage. He dove for it even as the three men were still falling, and Izaya took up a guard position outside, all without any spoken words between them—they _just knew_.

When Mikado first got into the room, it was by falling about two feet to the floor, head first, where he suddenly had a feeling he needed more energy, active energy, from his bubble to shield himself with. Some kind of power flared under him as he dragged the energy from the bubble to surround himself in a wave-like, flowing energy, and the attack which should have done something to him apparently just got dragged away by the moving energy. Rather than hearing a curse, he _felt_ a scowl from 'Lucifer'. He was just very thankful creativity was high on his list of natural skills, or he'd have been in major trouble 'fighting' on the fly as he currently was.

By then, though, he'd gotten his bearings, so sat up and looked around, seeing the room he'd dropped into before, and 'Lucifer' standing in it, looking decidedly tangible.

"I'm surprised to see anyone so tangibly using that power these days," the man commented in something like confusion.

"I have a lot of resources and I like to do research, so I found out about this," the boy replied in mild amusement. "And I don't even need to be religious to use it, so it's especially useful, don't you think?"

"So you fixed the damage of one arrow. Why didn't the other two reach you?" the spirit man suddenly asked after a silence, his expression decidedly cross.

"I was being shielded by a Dullahan at the time, but she hadn't been fast enough to protect me from the first one," Mikado explained honestly.

"Oh, really?" the man asked with a raised brow. "I didn't know they ever left their homeland."

"She probably wouldn't have if her head hadn't been stolen," the boy agreed.

"Why are you here? It isn't to talk, I know that much," 'Lucifer' commented.

"If you're a spirit, why can I see you?" the blue eyed boy asked instead of answering the question. He'd rather thought his reason should be obvious.

"Powerful spirits can appear just as tangibly as any physical human, but 'appearing' as such and 'being' tangible are two different things. I'm no less spirit just because you can currently see me with your eyes," the man-spirit shrugged. "You're being decidedly colloquial for someone who came to challenge me."

"Exactly who challenged whom?" Mikado asked dryly, and the spirit blinked. "But I suspect you were actually interfering because you wanted Hitomi stopped, before he could do any serious damage to the population. Even if you're the Christian devil and a powerful evil, maybe you're not actually entirely evil, because a tester, like a teacher, isn't generally 'evil'."

'Lucifer' snorted, then laughed and commented, "Yes, everyone _does_ seem to think I'm Satan as well. I'm not surprised you couldn't find anything different. But a Dullahan should have known I'm not Satan, and she should have told you so."

"You're—wait, what?" Mikado asked in puzzled surprise, trying to wrap his brain around what he was hearing. "What are you talking about?"

With a malicious grin—which the boy was shocked to find held pain under it—the spirit told him, "I am Lucifer. I am an Archangel who chose an 'evil' path, or a path taken as 'evil' by my kind, so I became a Dark Archangel, or a demon. Satan, the devil, is _my_ boss, my superior, in a sense, though I'm following my own path at the moment. And yes, he was originally supposed to be a tester of people, and not necessarily evil, but...things are out of everyone's hands now. And regardless of all that, I clearly intended you harm and nearly killed you more than once, so why would you turn around and say I'm trying to stop another evil? By my own admission, I'm evil, myself, so I'd have no reason to stop evil."

For several minutes, Mikado sat there and puzzled through the man's words, then gave a bit of a grin and said, "For someone so powerful and so evil, you're not trying very hard to kill me. At least you're talking _properly_ with me this time."

"I'm beginning to wonder where your mi—" Lucifer began with a deep scowl.

"In this land, you're Hachiman, aren't you? He's a teacher who places respect and honor above killing or any evil, so _here_, you don't have to _be_ evil," the blue eyed boy cut him off in a simple, calm tone. He was very much hoping he wouldn't have to progress beyond words to try to stop the man—he may have prepared for the eventuality of needing a more forceful method, but he didn't actually _want_ to use it. "By Hachiman's personality, you wouldn't _want_ someone like Hitomi in power, and you'd do everything you could to draw attention to him so he could be stopped—even if that meant helping him for a bit."

The spirit made a frustrated sound and sent more energy flying at the boy, so Mikado drew the flowing energy from the bubble around himself again. Like the first time, the energy dissipated, and he got to his feet.

Suddenly, Izaya slipped into the room, saying cheerfully and almost like he was chirping, "I got them all, Mikado! Thanks for the extra switch blade!"

"I thought I separated you two already. Your dependence on each other is disgusting," Lucifer scowled at them.

"No offense, but you have _no_ right to judge us after the Hell you've put us, and Mikado in particular, through," Izaya replied, tone and expression going cold as he looked at the spirit. "I have no reason to like you, and I have my own agenda, thanks. Besides, mutual assistance isn't necessarily _dependence_, and you misunderstood the situation if that's what you thought it was. And I still fully intend on making you pay for all the trouble you've caused me and my Queen."

With a snort, the spirit asked, "You think you _can_?"

A moment later, energy was shooting at Izaya, but it wasn't like the energy he had been throwing at Mikado before then. It seemed like fire, and electricity, and cold, all at once, and maybe even other things he couldn't define—and for some reason, it scared the boy. He jumped, putting himself between Izaya and the energy, even as he pulled as much of the moving energy around him as he could. How had those powers become tangibly visible when they hadn't been before, and why did it scare him so much?

Not long after, he had his answer, as not all of the energy was actually taken away—rather, while a lot of it dissipated, he was still tangibly hit by some of those powers, and he screamed in pain as he began falling. Izaya caught him and called out with worry, but he couldn't respond right away, as though he was in some kind of tunnel and there was nothing there he could actually associate with, nothing there to ground him. In other words, powers made physical weren't so easy to block. To quote Masaomi, 'well, that sucks.'

Blood dripped down his chin. It hurt almost as much as the energy arrow had, but this time, it was his physical body feeling the pain—and it was much more practical to let his cold self take over. He was starting to understand a little bit why he had that other 'self', and a large part of it was to compensate for the pain he loathed feeling. It didn't change the amount of pain he felt, but the cold side of him dealt with it better, regardless of what his normal self was able to do, so he let his other self get control of the pain for him—it was clear the 'battle' wasn't over yet.

A minute later, as Lucifer was about to send off several more of those balls of very real power and Izaya was about to set him down so he could attack the spirit with his blades, Mikado was able to get his bearings and get his body moving again. His movement was so sudden no one was expecting it, and as it turned out, the pain from the prior attack had turned into a boon, since he wasn't brave enough to deliberately cut his own finger or palm open, not for any reason.

Really, all he had to do was dart forward as he pulled the paper he'd drawn the seal on from his pocket, even as he wiped his chin with his other hand. As he got to Lucifer, he shoved the paper against him with his now-bloody hand, then whispered, "In the name of the Universal Creator, activate and bind!" He'd chosen the term 'the Universal Creator' because _any_ and _every_ religion had a being acting as a creator of the world and the universe, but each 'creator' varied fairly extensively, so it was a generic term he could use to cover his bases. Alternately, most societies also had an evil force which viewed itself as a 'god', so choosing the term 'universal creator' negated those false 'gods' from being able to answer or intervene.

The first thing he glimpsed was Lucifer's shock, and the second was how the spirit recoiled from the seal as bands of energy tangibly rippled around him.

After a moment, however, the seal paper fell away from Lucifer and the spirit stood straight again, making the teen wince and brace himself—only to hear an amused sigh as the man said, "So you made your own preparations."

Looking up, Mikado replied in amusement, "Of course I did. What did you expect?"

"Well, I suppose there's still something worth saving, then, even if only a very few can make any difference," the spirit commented. "A seal like that would have a hard time holding one of the Archangels, but you used it well enough for it to _hurt_, so I'd better call my game quits before you do me _serious_ harm." He then looked up at Izaya as well and said, "And stop hiding things from each other if you intend to benefit most from any kind of relationship you may have. If you don't start being honest, you _will_ become dependent in the worst possible way—which would greatly hinder both of you, in all aspects. Testing others is one thing—but even _that_ needs to have limits."

A moment later, he'd vanished, leaving both men to stare in shock at the place where he'd been standing.

"...Mikado...did...a God...just say I'm approaching my games the wrong way?" Izaya asked in a stunned voice.

"...It rather sounded like it, didn't it?" the boy asked in mild amusement, then suddenly felt exhausted, so dropped to the floor on his knees, even as he found a shadow passing over his eyes.

"Don't go passing out _now_," Izaya told him dryly, picking him up and carrying him to the hole in the wall. "You at least have to get out of the room, first."

"Right..." the boy agreed, gathering enough energy to pull himself through the hole, where Izaya picked him up again.

The man managed to keep him awake all the way to his home in Shinjuku, and even right into the bed, where Mikado found he just didn't want to stop Izaya that time.

The end!

Feel free to stick around for the Epilogue, though! It'll be up next week.

And please let me know if I've missed something so I can make sure everything's addressed in the Epilogue!


	15. 15-Epilogue: Settling Down In Chaos

Epilogue: Settling Down...In Chaos

When Mikado woke up, it was to bright sunlight shining on his face and Izaya's nude body wrapped around his equally nude body. His lower back hurt, so he was in no hurry to move, but remembering what had gone on after they'd gotten back from Hitomi's made him blush furiously. For all the auburn eyed man really had a knife fetish and he now had a number of—thankfully small—lacerations all over his body, the experience had felt decidedly...pleasurable. Or, he had just been missing the other man's touch too much. Either way, he didn't think he wanted to go back to 'before', when he was too—shy? Prudish?—to actually participate in such an act. The thought honestly surprised him at first. Not to mention how he'd been too wrapped up in pleasure to even realize he was being cut until after the fact...

"How are you feeling?" Izaya asked curiously, otherwise not moving.

"In what way?" the boy asked dryly. "My ass and back really hurt thanks to you."

The words produced a chuckle, then the man said, "I can't really do anything about that—you just have to get used to it. Or rather, what I can do about it is to repeat the activities of last night so you _can_ get used to it."

"Or stop them entirely."

"After the way you begged me for more?"

When Mikado turned bright red and muttered, "Don't say such embarrassing things," Izaya chuckled and decided not to pursue the thought.

"But actually, I meant after the battle. How are you holding up from that?" the auburn eyed man asked, tone faintly worried.

With a sigh, blue eyes opened to find the man's auburn. "I don't seem to have any physical pain anymore, but I'm still sorting out all the data he gave me before disappearing. Basically, I'm really confused."

"About what?"

"...That guy...Tsukumoya Shinichi...he mentioned it, too—how do people define 'evil'? It's different by culture and religion, and...I honestly...Lucifer really _helped_ us, to alert us to Hitomi so we could stop him, to force bonds between people which wouldn't have happened otherwise, and even to help us in our personal relationships. He was doing things in a very controlled way, knowing our limits and pushing just the right amount for us to bypass them. It was planned, from me finding Celty's head to the attack on the hospital, to my trip to see him before we went to Hitomi's physically. I can't actually say he's _evil_, given how much he helped us. So...why, to the other angels and to Christians, is he evil?"

"He's not a 'teacher' to them, he's temptation itself," the man replied simply. "He presented himself to them much differently than he did to us, and _tried_ to make himself seem evil to them. For what it's worth, maybe he _really does_ have bouts where he just gets vindictive, and takes it out on them because it's easy, since they already believe he's evil." He paused, then asked, "You know Tsukumoya?"

"Yeah...he was filling me in on a bit of the data _you_ were deliberately not telling me about the cases," Mikado admitted.

Izaya's expression was clearly annoyed by that, and the point was proven when he changed the subject. "About the odd powers you've apparently been using quite extensively..."

"Some of that...a lot of that, actually, should stop once the mark you put on me fades, so a lot of those things won't work anymore, or won't work so well if they do," the boy told him simply.

"Only 'most', not 'all'?" Izaya asked with an amused smirk.

"Yeah, like, until I put a proper shield up around my mind, I had no idea I was actually hearing people's thoughts, and it was creating a perpetual din in my mind—but I was doing that long before you put the mark on me, so I can't exactly lose it now." The amused blue eyes which met somewhat curious auburn held a smirk of their own. "And a few other things, I should still be able to do just fine. By the way, how did everything besides us and _him_ turn out?"

"Oh, there was plenty of fun last night. Celty almost broke my door down when she couldn't find you, but you were sort of asleep by the time we got back and probably didn't notice, and I almost couldn't wake you again. She then headed to the site, but even on our way out, it seemed Awakusu-kai had finished up—Hitomi was quite dead, and so were the zombies, so your new friends were pulling out. You'll have to go to their main house and assure them you're all right, preferably today, since you're back in school tomorrow. I think the police got through the regular traffic in the hub area and to Hitomi's about ten minutes later, where they've been cleaning up and trying to work out what happened since then. Oh, and Kida called about three dozen times, and texted three times as much, so you'd better let him know you're all right," the information dealer smirked.

Pausing for a minute, Mikado asked dryly, "What did you tell him, Izaya?"

With a chuckle and smirk, the man said, "How prudent. I told him you were indisposed in my bed. Of course, you were gasping and moa—"

"Izaya! You didn't talk to him while we were—doing _that_!" the boy gasped in horror, turning bright red.

Silently, the man handed him his phone, so Mikado took it timidly and began looking through the texts registered in it. There were a whole bunch of the regular 'are you all right?' kind, then a space of several minutes with nothing, and a much larger number of furious texts all claiming Masaomi would kill Izaya for him. With a heart-felt sigh, he realized he really had no choice but to talk with Masaomi, and it was probably better to _not_ go through it at school, or probably all Raira would know his actual relationship with Orihara Izaya in about two minutes.

Dialing the phone, he waited for Masaomi to pick up—only to hear him yell before he could say anything, "You idiot, Mikado! How could you have fallen into such an obvious trap! Wait, he used drugs, he forced you, right? I swear I'll kill him and string his guts up across Sunshine Sixty and let the crows eat it for dinner!"

As the bleached blond went on with more like that, the black haired boy just held the phone away from his face as he stared at it and Izaya laughed at the tirade. The words were furious and came quickly, so all Mikado even _could_ do was just hold the phone away from his ear and wait for him to finish. Not that it was hard to hear him by doing so, just that it wasn't breaking his eardrums anymore, and the words came through clearly. In the end, while Izaya killed himself laughing on the bed beside the black haired boy, it took Masaomi almost an hour to stop.

When both sides finally fell silent, Mikado tentatively held the phone to his ear and asked, "Are you done yelling now so we can talk?"

Silence followed for a minute, then a sharp, "Well enough," came back in a normal talking voice which still held plenty of anger.

"Well...I didn't realize he answered the phone while we were...er...yeah, anyway, so I think I should tell you I let him do it, no, I wasn't drugged, and no, you can't kill him. Yet, anyway." A glance at the man showed him raising an amused brow.

"...How can you fall into a trap like that willingly?" Masaomi asked with a clear glare coming out in his voice.

"Er...because I'm having fun. _Because_ he keeps me guessing. Anyway, everything else, with the street fight and the zombies and the electrocuting cold bubble, are all resolved, so things can get back to normal. That is, if you stop calling so often my boyfriend feels he has to answer just to irritate you with something you don't need to know. I don't mind you checking on me...but three dozen calls in under two hours is a little much, don't you think?" Mikado asked in amusement.

Again, a long silence followed, then a sigh sounded before the bleached blond on the other end of the line asked, "Did you kill that Hitomi guy?"

"No, the Awakusu-kai guys did—he was _their_ enemy more than mine."

"It's all over the news, and they even said they found an illegal lab and all the servants had been experimented on...all that, just since police got there in the middle of the night," Masaomi informed his friend with a sigh.

"I see. Then it's really all resolved. So, let's move forward," the blue eyed boy answered with a smile.

"...Okay. Just...Don't let him answer your phone anymore."

"...You think I can _stop_ him when I'm busy with something else?"

The phone went dead a moment later, so Mikado sighed and set the phone aside as he said to his older boyfriend, "He's right to say you shouldn't be answering my phone, though." As the man smirked, the younger of them gave a wry grin and said, "Though, I already know you won't stop if it means you can tease someone."

After a minute, Izaya surprised the boy by sighing. "Well, I guess now we should discuss the actual terms of our relationship. I'd rather not lose you again, so...you may be right and it would be more prudent to actually...share more, both ways, not just one." It was paining Izaya to say it, but he had to relent—another God had said so, after all, and had said very simply that he'd never reach his desired goal if he kept up the way he was going. "I still want to play my games, with you and with others, but maybe I can indicate when I want to play one? When it's you, anyway. I can't say I _always_ will give you an explanation, just an indication—I want to see your reaction to an unexpected event, after all."

To his surprise, the boy nodded. "But if it's something like seeing what unknown seals are going to do, you _have_ to tell me so we can test it properly. If it's general reactions to more...physical things, you can get away with just an indication. I don't mind playing. But you _have_ to start telling me _all_ the information you know about the cases we're working on, even if you don't tell me where you _got_ the data—I know you want to keep your contacts to yourself. See, I'm good at solving problems if I have all the information, and I can't solve them half as well when I only have _part_ of it. Though, it was pretty nice of you to drop the data about Hitomi in my lap—I realized you were leading me there, but I didn't know you planned on joining me."

With a chuckle and a smirk, Izaya rolled over on top of his younger partner and said, "I think I can live with that. And here's one more point—you called the King the weakest piece on the board, but here's another reality. Since I'm above humans, I don't have a piece on the board at all, and whether the King is weaker than the Queen is rather irrelevant, don't you think?"

Mikado blinked, then gazed up at the man and grinned wryly. "Then, after all this, I'm not your 'Queen' anymore, since I don't exactly belong on the board, either."

"You think so? No, you're not _my_ level yet, so you're still my Queen, and I fully intend on having you in the truest sense of the word."

With that, he leaned down and kissed the boy deeply, even as said boy blushed furiously—and let him do it.

Though, when they broke the kiss, Mikado couldn't help but chuckle and say, "If that's what you think, I'm going to have to start giving your own medicine back to you."

"In what way?" the man ask curiously.

"I get to test you, too, the same way you do me," the boy replied impishly.

Izaya snorted and grinned as he agreed, "Bring it on! Show me how much you can grow."

All done! Thanks for reading!


End file.
